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Humility is a good thing. Perhaps we all need a dose?
oh, I got mine....I look to those humble, empathetic corporate CEOs taking paycuts and forgoing bonuses - this is really making me feel so much more optimistic about everything...I wake up daily with an "Enzyte Bob Smile" just knowing things will get better....
Similarly, we are in a real estate meltdown because at least 1/3 to 1/2 of Americans can't really afford the homes they are trying to buy at current prices. Those prices need to fall at least 35-50%--maybe more. When they do, home ownership may become actually affordable again to the middle class
“Houses cost too much for the mass market. Today’s average price is out of reach for two-thirds of all buyers”
- Science Digest 1948 (average price at the time: $8,000)
What constitutes "affordable" to you?
$80 per sq.ft
$30 per sq.ft
Quote:
Originally Posted by jazzlover
Rebuilding our infrastructure actually is a good idea--but not blowing the money on a highway system that has no future in its present form. We should be rebuilding our rail system....
OK, we all know that you own stakes in the rail industry. Other forum members have already exposed you on this. If rails go up, you then make your $$$$. So you espouse the rail system so that you can profit from it. Point taken.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jazzlover
In Colorado, we'd better figure out that trying to base an economy primarily around real estate development, trophy houses, second homes, goof-off recreation, and other non-productive crap is complete bull**** in what will likely be the national economic environment for at least a decade or two.
Are you this way in public settings? You must be the life of the party, NOT.
Are you claiming you don't participate in an "recreational" activities? I get a picture of you and you look like Ebenezer Scrooge, counting his money, hating everyone, and living in the dark in order to save money.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jazzlover
We should be thinking of that history as we debase our currency and let our government spend money (that it doesn't have) like drunken sailors--inflating the p*** out of everything about 12-18 months from now.
Well, you voted for Obama and he supposedly will CHANGE and fix things. If all this disaster happens, there is NOTHING we can do to stop it. NOTHING. Actually, having a large home will help you as you can house other families who need shelter and you can make some income by charging them a small rental fee, as they did during the Great Depression
When Warren Buffet speaks, people listen, but only if they like what he says. In this thread, the blame game is where it's at because it feels so good to the ego to be absolved from the part we played in bringing on this fiasco. We are so much smarter than everybody else.
I don't worry too much about pointing fingers at the past. I operate on the theory that every saint has a past, every sinner has a future." -- Warren Buffet
I operate on the theory that "payback is a b*tch." We need to put stocks...and I don't mean the kind they trade on Wall Street...back in the town center. I want to see bankers and defaulted debtors alike stripped of their ill-gotten gains, weeping in chains before an angry and vicious crowd.
The bulls**t assumption that "everyone" is to blame for this disaster is classic socialist apologist crap. There is an identifiable and greedy subset of the population that caused this. There are also many innocents that did not stack cordwood on the fire. We may all end up burning together, but we are not all responsible for these circumstances.
heh. From what I know, Jazzlover would not vote for Obama or Democrats for nuthin' and nobody. Whether he's the life o' the party, I dunno. But I did look back at some of his doom/gloom posts in 2007, and darned if they weren't accurate (although I reserve opinion on the recent mention of World War III on the Front Range. I have my limits).
I operate on the theory that "payback is a b*tch." We need to put stocks...and I don't mean the kind they trade on Wall Street...back in the town center. I want to see bankers and defaulted debtors alike stripped of their ill-gotten gains, weeping in chains before an angry and vicious crowd.
The bulls**t assumption that "everyone" is to blame for this disaster is classic socialist apologist crap. There is an identifiable and greedy subset of the population that caused this. There are also many innocents that did not stack cordwood on the fire. We may all end up burning together, but we are not all responsible for these circumstances.
Hey I'm with you in regard to ill-gotten gains being stripped away. Although the weeping in chains part would indeed be sweet revenge, it's not gonna help us out of the mess, so let's pass on that part and let the greedy sobs quietly rot in prison. ( I got a mean streak in me too )
IMO, at least in some small way, ALL of us ( even you Bob! ) contributed to the mess in some way. Just because we may not recognozie our contribution doesn't mean we didin't contribute. More likely it means we're too focused on blaming the other guy, unwilling to look at our own shortcomings, and waaaay too hung up on always being right.
IMO, at least in some small way, ALL of us ( even you Bob! ) contributed to the mess in some way. Just because we may not recognozie our contribution doesn't mean we didin't contribute. More likely it means we're too focused on blaming the other guy, unwilling to look at our own shortcomings, and waaaay too hung up on always being right.
I agree with you, especially the part about always being hung up on being right.
First, I didn't vote for Obama. Second, yes, I believe in the railroad industry and that it is one mode of transportation that actually has a future--so I'm putting some money where my mouth is. I happen to think that's a hell of a lot smarter than sitting with money in those all-so-well-managed-with-such-bright-futures Big Three auto manufacturers. Uh, that would be the ones (and their union leaders) sitting outside the Capitol Building with their little tin cups out--hoping a few billion $ of your and my tax money will fall into them to bail their sorry ***es out. Sorry that gets your undies in a bunch.
Life of the party? I do just fine, thank you. No, I don't go around with a lampshade on my head--I practice moderation in that, too. Just like I do in the rest of my personal and financial life. The morons who are in debt up to their eyeballs for a lifestyle they never really could afford might want to take a lesson from some folks like me. Of course, that just might spoil their party. As to my recreation, I enjoy my share--but it doesn't take a six-figure "investment" for me to do it. It is still possible to have a lot of "fun" quite inexpensively--a fact lost on a big chunk of the materialistic/hedonistic American population. That group will be the ones totally miserable when they (very soon) will not be able to enjoy their "champagne" recreation any longer. I'll be fine.
On the $8,000 house being unaffordable to most buyers in 1948, you might actually want to check and see what median family income was in 1948. It just might surprise you. Oh, and back then the assumption was that it did not take a two-earner household to make a middle-class lifestyle possible.
Now, why don't you run along and go complain about the big snowstorm about to hit Colorado--that would be the one I'm having a blast watch develop right now from my window . . .
At this point in time I'm happy to say that I did vote for Obama and I'm glad I did. Nonetheless, it behooves us all to remember that everyone has the right to vote for the candidate of their choice. During those elections when the vast majority of us were on the same wavelength we voted people like Nixon and Reagan into office and the country suffered for it. You can fool me once ( Nixon, Reagan, Clinton ) but getting my vote for a second term is much harder ( I've never voted for anyone going for their second term. HOPEFULLY Obama will be different....we'll see! )
As for puttin your money where your mouth is, to me that seems like a good thing and not a matter for criticism.
Gotta agree....Some of the best entertainment doesn't cost so much as a dime, let alone 6 or 7 figures for a vacation McMansion or a 40 ft monster on wheels.
Life of the party? I do just fine, thank you. No, I don't go around with a lampshade on my head--I practice moderation in that, too. Just like I do in the rest of my personal and financial life. The morons who are in debt up to their eyeballs for a lifestyle they never really could afford might want to take a lesson from some folks like me.
I'll be fine.
I bet you are NOT married, correct?
Ever hear of the terms "humility" & "self-righteousness"?
Last edited by katzenfreund; 12-13-2008 at 10:12 PM..
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