29 May 2010

Priorities all Awack

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The Senate just tried to pass a bill to subsidize teachers in local school districts while they try to cut funding to the US Coast Guard. Reporters tell us that the administration says that the USCG lacks the ability to deal with the crisis. Cut their funding, and that's a veritable guarantee.

We pay taxes so that the government can deal with things we cannot do for ourselves, not to redistribute wealth.

28 May 2010

Stand Together as One People

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The illegal immigration debate and the multiculturalistic effort are attacks at the very fiber of America. Since my days in public school, they spoke of a melting pot, but now they focus on the distinctness of a fruit salad, where everything remains identifiable from the rest. Out of that we have Italian-Americans, African-Americans, and Mexican-Americans, but heaven forbid you identify yourself as an Anglo-saxon-American. That's just not ok. The formation of a uniquely American identity is what makes America strong. it unites us behind our athletes at the Olympics, behind our soldiers in wars abroad, and when anyone challenges our morals, values and norms. Any attempt to balkanize us is an effort to break America.

Most people know of the stick analogy. If you try to break just one stick, it's easy. Put together a dozen or a hundred, and the difficulty rises exponentially or factorily, not just in an additive fasion. So, it takes more than ten times the force to break ten sticks than it takes to break one, because all of the other sticks help resist the tendency of those around them to break. That's why trees grow together. Single trees are much more vulnerable to the elements than a cluster.

I am inclined to believe that trends and fashion are designed to affect us in the same way. Every youth wants to be "unique", to "stand out", and so it pits us into conflict with one another at a time when they should be making friends based on things that are really common rather than on taste in music or threads with which they adorn their bodies. All of them are quickly rendered alone and isolated, each an island, and they find commonality based on activities, 'likes' and fads rather than on their honest feelings in an attempt to fit in somewhere. Detractors mock what is good and brave and true and endorse things of transient value and duration. Those without strong family units find themselves the slaves of drugs, alcohol and promiscuity.

Family is the great rock that is supposed to hold us together. The economy and other socio-political movements have robbed society of the safety that can be found in a family. Instead of a refuge, homes become places to store crap. Instead of being at home, parents are out working or socializing or 'living life to its fullest'. Our quest for wealth has robbed us of the mother as watchman over the home refuge. The fires are all gone out, and so are our children.

Unity is a great historical precedent for success. During the civil war, officers were there chiefly to make sure men kept formation and moved forward. Few of them had experience or credentials to render them effective leaders by example, and so most of them walked behind. I have seen the GAR field manuals. They dictate exactly where the officers should follow behind the men. Greece and Rome held military hegemony for centuries based on their fighting technique. It bound men together, but unlike the loose association by geography of the civil war, they were united by other values as citizens of a great empire. One Spartan phalanx of 300 men held off Persia long enough for the rest of Greece to unite, an army of nearly one million men.

Even, ironically, the popular culture reflects this principle. From time to time, a cunning director will insert a theme of unity into their message in film. In Spider Man2, a new yorker throws something at the villain and declares "you mess with one of us, and you mess with all of us". You can see the Roman fighting style at work in Gladiator where the general orders his men to cluster together to stop the chariot attack. Even JK Rowling, bless her heart, wrote one into her stories. Luna Lovegood tells Harry that if she were Voldemort she would want him to feel like he was alone because that renders him less of a threat.

In case you doubt me, consider the pledge of allegiance:
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Indivisible. Aliens don't have to abide by the laws. What about justice for all?

We place far too much emphasis on what makes us unique at the expense of the things that bind us together as a people. Our enemies smile at this prospect because it is easier to destroy your enemies in handfuls than to face them in their combined strength. Rome and Greece were strong because of the phalanx principle. Unless breached, this "group of people standing, or moving forward closely together" was a nearly invincible fighting force. As Ben Franklin said, 'Gentlemen we must all hang together or we shall most assuredly all hang separately'. Let us move forward closely together, and we shall overcome any power that stands in the way of Liberty and Justice.

27 May 2010

Taking Advantage of a Crisis

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The president speaks of 'we' today, when he has done jack squat. He takes credit for things he did not do and ignores the responsibility for things he created. Until yesterday, he had no idea about the back fill plan. If he had, he would have announced it beforehand. He has stonewalled Governor Jindal's efforts to take charge and waited for BP to do stuff. Now we hear that BP has done nothing without Obama's express written prior consent. He has not been on the case. All he has done is baste BP while they did what they could to stop an oil leak a mile underwater.

Now, he has an ace up his sleeve. Months ago, Obama announced that he would open land for oil exploration. Now that this spill has exceeded the Exxon Valdez crash in severity (due to his inaction I add), he will capitalize on it to ban all oil exploration everywhere, including in Alaska. How convenient. Then he scapegoats BP and holds them responsible. I'm surprised he didn't blame some corporation for the volcano in Iceland. That volcano hurt the environment more than BP's leak has.

BP would have had an easier time if not for the government. First, government regulation mandates that we go so far offshore, away from help and resources and equipment. Secondly, the equipment mandated by the CLinton administration for this kind of eventuality was not immediately available when it was small, and Obama, like when the Somalis took an American sea captain hostage, sat on his hands. He takes credit for what BP does just like he did when the Navy Commander ordered the SEALs to shoot. that Commander was court marshalled for disobeying the commander in chief.

This man will destroy oil if he can. If BP operates at Obama's direction, then Obama owns it if this new technique fails. He will however conveniently escape any blame and scapegoat someone.

If he had been serious, he would have spent some time at sidewalk level. We have a picture of Obama on the phone with governors in the gulf but not one of him cleaning up ducks or sea lions or kelp covered with oil. We have corporate entities on the way but no actual federal help aside from the military which has no expertise in resource extraction or control. Obama just shot America in the foot again with his incompetance. Even if you don't have a good idea, you get out there and ask your boots on the ground what they need and then bend over backwards to give it to them as soon as you can.

Obama doesn't care about your hardships. He says he's praying for the families of the workers who died in the explosion and for those affected by the spill. Yet, until today, he made no mention personally of any lives lost and offers no real mediation of our sufferings. Any idiot can pray. That's the least he can do. Mr. President, I don't want or need your prayers. Your god offers me nothing that I desire.

26 May 2010

Nerds are Trendy

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When I was younger, it was socially disadvantageous to be a nerd. Nobody wanted to date you. Everyone picked on you. When people spoke to you, you were always cautious of their motives, and for good reason. I could tell you personal anecdotes which I will keep to myself for now. Now, however, it has become vogue to be a nerd.

When Bill Gates made his fortune, it was suddenly fashionable to be a nerd. Gates, arguably one of the nerdiest men on the planet perhaps ever, rose to be for a time one of the richest men ever on the earth. As his empire boomed, so did all of the vocational pursuits generally selected by nerds in information technology. We had turned to that to keep busy when we were excluded from activities with other people, and now that those people want those gadgets, they need us and want us to help them keep their lifestyle. Everyone I know knows a nerd on whom to call if they have any sort of computer hiccup whatsoever.

of late, I have noticed that many of girls with excessive 'hotness' want to date nerds. The nerds they seek are not necessarily the brainiacs or 'dweeb' class like that to which I belong. They look for nerds who are into computers, play video games all the time, etc. I worked with a woman once who bought her live-in boyfriend a computer game so that she could get some time away from him. I know a young lady who only wants to date nerds because she likes their innocence in bed. Part of this might be the assumption that nerds will get rich like Gates, but a large part is that nerds stay. Eventually, these girls know they can count on their nerds because nerds usually have no hope at the kinds of relationships or the kinds of girls that jocks and preps could catch, and so if they win a girl like that, they keep her.

There are other reasons. I don't know the minds of girls very well who choose that kind of guy, but I have heard some disturbing things about why girls started to choose nerds. It might be part of the chickification of society- it's no longer vogue to get a masculine man. Look around at all the girls who pick guys with small waistbands and small ambitions over men who can protect them and earn a good living with which to care for them. More and more, some nerds act like girls. It probably comes from the time they spend with them, because girls would befriend nerds because they were safe, easy to put into the Friend Zone.

Being a nerd protected me from a lot of things when I grew up that no longer seem to be spared us. My peers knew I was a prude and a straight edge and a 'Puritan', and so they never offered me drugs, alcohol, or physical intimacy. It kept me away from places where and people with whom I might get into trouble. That's no longer the case. Everyone wants their nerd, and the nerds need to be wary.

The woman who offers you the enjoyment of her body outside of wedlock doesn't do it for you. She does it for her. She is after validation that she is desireable. She invites you to a feast which brings only disease. There was a good reason they didn't use to choose us, and there is an equally deceptive reason why they choose us today. It's not about us. It's about something else.

25 May 2010

Government Entrenched Segregation

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The presence of the law indicates that without the law some people could not be forced to behave in the way the law seeks to enforce. As such, since there are laws once established to enforce segregation, that means some people chose to serve everyone and that Americans were less racist before those laws than they were because of them.

The presence of segregated counters or segregated restaurants means that some restauranteurs, streetcar operators, and school officials refused to segregate until the government forced them to. Why would some people want to serve everyone? It's sa matter of simple economics: the place that makes no distinctions gets the most business, like Wal-Mart, where you can see customers from every socio-economic status side by side in line. Like all regulations, it was geared to protect businesses whose owners were racist from going out of business.

Governmental regulations helped us endure, then embrace a world separated on race. Would fewer laws make us less racist? I think so. We have spent decades trying to enforce equal opportunity by law. Let us now try liberty.

20 May 2010

Nervous Auction Anticipation

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I find I prefer to just buy things I like. Auctions get me excited and wound up so much that I either make poor choices or can think of nothing else. Even as I rise this morning with several hours to go on an auction, I can feel my body tense up and it might be difficult to run. It was.

When I first moved to the Vegas valley, my dad took me to the auto auction. We kept an eagle eye out every week for Saturns in the event we could pick up a replacement for Car2-D2 on the cheap through the auction. That first trip, we weren't serious and made it more of an educational experience. We watched two people get caught up and bid up over $4500 for a vehicle that was clearly in a front-end collision and was worth way less than that.

Ever since I got onto eBay in 1997, i have hated their auctions too. In the very last moments, people will get on and snipe things away from me. There's really very little point to watching anything all week because in general the action occurs during the last half hour or even within the last few minutes with everyone jockeying to get it for as cheaply as they possibly can. I bid what I can afford and watch tons of items slip through my fingers.

Tuesday afternoon, when I discovered someone auctioning a full set of Thomas Jefferson's works from the memorial limited edition run in 1909, I was intrigued. Since I visited Monticello, I have longed to get ahold of his writings. It was too tempting, and so I got involved. Now, with only a few hours to go, I can feel my heart pound in my chest in anticipation of a possible win. it's killing me.

When I buy things, I prefer to just skip just to best offer. For 14 months I have been looking for a house, and I refuse to pay more than asking price. Other people can get caught up in bidding wars, but my best offer is my best offer, and I refuse to hurt myself and other people by paying more than an item is worth. That is kind of what happened with the housing market in the first place, and it's certainly what happened with the Tickle Me Elmo craze I remember back in High School. When I bought a replacement car, I asked what the asking price included (tax, title, doc, etc.) and then pointed out there were some slight damages to the car. He gave me best price, and I took it.

If I see something I like, I buy it. I like Buy it Now offerings because I can get it right now. I like Half.com because I list media for what I want and people select mine if they like. Sometimes I wait for things to go on sale, as they almost inevitably do, but I am not much of a haggler or bidder. I don't like how I feel during an auction or what it does to me to anticipate something. My life since High School has been replete with disappointments aplenty, and so I count my eggs as I gather them and not in advance of the harvest.

Once I bought something on eBAY for more than I was willing to pay. I still own it, and I think I keep it as a reminder to pay only what an item is worth to me. When I was tempted to offer more than I could actually afford on a home in anticipation of the tax credit, I thought twice. Sure, I might not win this auction either, but it might come back up again. Chances are that most of the bidders want it, not for the knowledge it contains, but for how much they believe it to be worth to other people. They want, like many who inflated the housing market in the last few years, to flip this item and resell it for a profit. I see plenty of profit in the item itself. That wealth of knowledge is what I seek.

I intended to buy this collection anyway eventually. Instead of a reprint bought piecemeal used for $30-$40/volume, I could pick up a matching set right now for less than that. Sounds like a good deal to me!

Update at 12:10PM: I have a strange auction strategy. I set as my maximum bid a strange dollar amount like $11.07 or $92.61 because most people use round figures in their bids. Five seconds before the auction ended, someone bid $0.07 less than my max bid, and so I won. Price with shipping comes out to less than $14/book, and they are a special limited issue. In all this week, I have purchased 71 books for $423 including shipping which is less than $6 per book. Beat that Amazon!

19 May 2010

Hippocrite President of Mexico

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Realfacts posted some interesting excerpts from Mexico's official statutes in the wake of the visit by Mexican President Calderone.

UNDER MEXICO’S IMMIGRATION LAW (GENERAL LAW ON POPULATION): [1][3]
Mexico’s Immigration Law(General Law on Population)
1999• Mexico welcomes only foreigners who will be useful to Mexican society:- Foreigners are admitted into Mexico “according to their possibilities of contributing to national progress.” (Article 32)- Immigration officials must “ensure” that “immigrants will be useful elements for the country and that they have the necessary funds for their sustenance” and for their dependents. (Article 34)- Foreigners may be barred from the country if their presence upsets “the equilibrium of the national demographics,” when foreigners are deemed detrimental to “economic or national interests,” when they do not behave like good citizens in their own country, when they have broken Mexican laws, and when “they are not found to be physically or mentally healthy.” (Article 37)- The Secretary of Governance may “suspend or prohibit the admission of foreigners when he determines it to be in the national interest.” (Article 38)
• Mexican authorities must keep track of every single person in the country:- Federal, local and municipal police must cooperate with federal immigration authorities upon request, i.e., to assist in the arrests of illegal immigrants. (Article 73)- A National Population Registry keeps track of “every single individual who comprises the population of the country,” and verifies each individual’s identity. (Articles 85 and 86)- A national Catalog of Foreigners tracks foreign tourists and immigrants (Article 87), and assigns each individual with a unique tracking number (Article 91).
• Foreigners with fake papers, or who enter the country under false pretenses, may be imprisoned:- Foreigners with fake immigration papers may be fined or imprisoned. (Article 116)- Foreigners who sign government documents “with a signature that is false or different from that which he normally uses” are subject to fine and imprisonment. (Article 116)
• Foreigners who fail to obey the rules will be fined, deported, and/or imprisoned as felons:- Foreigners who fail to obey a deportation order are to be punished. (Article 117)- Foreigners who are deported from Mexico and attempt to re-enter the country without authorization can be imprisoned for up to 10 years. (Article 118)- Foreigners who violate the terms of their visa may be sentenced to up to six years in prison (Articles 119, 120 and 121). Foreigners who misrepresent the terms of their visa while in Mexico — such as working with out a permit — can also be imprisoned.
• Under Mexican law, illegal immigration is a felony. The General Law on Population says,- “A penalty of up to two years in prison and a fine of three hundred to five thousand pesos will be imposed on the foreigner who enters the country illegally.” (Article 123)- Foreigners with legal immigration problems may be deported from Mexico instead of being imprisoned. (Article 125)- Foreigners who “attempt against national sovereignty or security” will be deported. (Article 126)
• Mexicans who help illegal aliens enter the country are themselves considered criminals under the law:- A Mexican who marries a foreigner with the sole objective of helping the foreigner live in the country is subject to up to five years in prison. (Article 127)- Shipping and airline companies that bring undocumented foreigners into Mexico will be fined. (Article 132)
UNDER MEXICO’S CONSTITUTION :[2][4]
Mexico’s Constitution(English translation)
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• The Mexican constitution expressly forbids non-citizens to participate in the country’s political life.Non-citizens are forbidden to participate in demonstrations or express opinions in public about domestic politics. Article 9 states, “only citizens of the Republic may do so to take part in the political affairs of the country.” Article 33 is unambiguous: “Foreigners may not in any way participate in the political affairs of the country.”
• The Mexican constitution denies fundamental property rights to foreigners.If foreigners wish to have certain property rights, they must renounce the protection of their own governments or risk confiscation. Foreigners are forbidden to own land in Mexico within 100 kilometers of land borders or within 50 kilometers of the coast.
Article 27 states, “Only Mexicans by birth or naturalization and Mexican companies have the right to acquire ownership of lands, waters, and their appurtenances, or to obtain concessions for the exploitation of mines or of waters. The State may grant the same right to foreigners, provided they agree before the Ministry of Foreign Relations to consider themselves as nationals in respect to such property, and bind themselves not to invoke the protection of their governments in matters relating thereto; under penalty, in case of noncompliance with this agreement, of forfeiture of the property acquired to the Nation. Under no circumstances may foreigners acquire direct ownership of lands or waters within a zone of one hundred kilometers along the frontiers and of fifty kilometers along the shores of the country.” (Emphasis added)• The Mexican constitution denies equal employment rights to immigrants, even legalones, in the public sector.
“Mexicans shall have priority over foreigners under equality of circumstances for all classes of concessions and for all employment, positions, or commissions of the Government in which the status of citizenship is not indispensable. In time of peace no foreigner can serve in the Army nor in the police or public security forces.” (Article 32)
• The Mexican constitution guarantees that immigrants will never be treated as real Mexican citizens, even if they are legally naturalized.Article 32 bans foreigners, immigrants, and even naturalized citizens of Mexico from serving as military officers, Mexican-flagged ship and airline crew, and chiefs of seaports and airports:
“In order to belong to the National Navy or the Air Force, and to discharge any office or commission, it is required to be a Mexican by birth. This same status is indispensable for captains, pilots, masters, engineers, mechanics, and in general, for all personnel of the crew of any vessel or airship protected by the Mexican merchant flag or insignia. It is also necessary to be Mexican by birth to discharge the position of captain of the port and all services of practique and airport commandant, as well as all functions of customs agent in the Republic.”
• An immigrant who becomes a naturalized Mexican citizen can be stripped of his Mexican citizenship if he lives again in the country of his origin for more than five years, under Article 37. Mexican-born citizens risk no such loss.
• Foreign-born, naturalized Mexican citizens may not become federal lawmakers (Article 55), cabinet secretaries (Article 91) or supreme court justices (Article 95).
• The president of Mexico must be a Mexican citizen by birth AND his parents must also be Mexican-born citizens (Article 82), thus giving secondary status to Mexican-born citizens born of immigrants.
• The Mexican constitution singles out “undesirable aliens.” Article 11 guarantees federal protection against “undesirable aliens resident in the country.”
• The Mexican constitution provides the right of private individuals to make citizen’s arrests.Article 16 states, “in cases of flagrante delicto, any person may arrest the offender and his accomplices, turning them over without delay to the nearest authorities.” Therefore, the Mexican constitution appears to grant Mexican citizens the right to arrest illegal aliens and hand them over to police for prosecution.
• The Mexican constitution states that foreigners may be expelled for any reason and without due process.According to Article 33, “the Federal Executive shall have the exclusive power to compel any foreigner whose remaining he may deem inexpedient to abandon the national territory immediately and without the necessity of previous legal action.”

Some people argue that these aliens make a significant contribution to society. They do not contribute to society if they BREAK THE LAW. Society is based on law and order. If we allow them to break the law and then reward them with citizenship, the result is anarchy.

I will not be lectured on mercy and justice by the President of Mexico who himself is executor of laws far harsher than any we employ. Our president sat there in a vain stupor and let that imbecile decry us for our efforts to preserve our society which compared to those employed in his own country are benign.

He suggested they atone for their disregard for the law by paying taxes as a penalty. Does that mean we all paying a penalty for the privilege of being citizens? Should taxes be a path to citizenship? They never have been. They didn't guarantee us representation under George III.

Obama says he will punish businesses that hire people with the proper paperwork, yet we're not allowed to force them to carry papers. that would be like nazi germany. How can we verify your status via documents if you have no documents? How come you cannot ask them the land of their nativity when they commit a crime? Even worse, he won't take questions and defend what he said. everything is a talking point. Everything is a campaign slogan. Mr President, you never have to account for what you say. You are a coward, a liar, and a hypocrite, the dumbest smart man ever elected to public office.

A naturalized citizen in Mexico is always a second class citizen. They cannot have the same rights as someone who is citizen by birth. Who in Falkirk does Calderon think he is to come here and baste us? That blathering blatherscythe!

18 May 2010

Jack, Jill and Relationships

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Now that I'm older, I think Jack and Jill is a metaphor for relationships. They both went up the hill together after the water, and it was an uphill climb. Jack is the one who falls first, which is the stereotype that guys terminate the relationship through poor choices or commitment phobia. He breaks his crown which implies a loss of focus, a loss of concentration, and a lost train of thought. Jill "comes" after, which implies that as the relationship falls apart both people fall a bit. There is a loss of trust, of comfort, and of identity. In the end, many people never taste the refreshing waters.

As I look at a lot of relationships around me, I find that they are codependent at best. Even worse, there seems to be a rising conglomerate of people who prey upon one another. There are people who want sexual gratification, monetary advancement, or prestige of family status. A few months ago, a Facebook friend posted "First time you marry for love. Second time you marry for looks and money" and people opined that they could not skip to marriage #2! A few weeks ago, I wrote of a Craigslist story where both of the people played against each other for their own advancement. It calls to memory one of my favorite comedy skits on Jack and Jill:





The POE version is the best...it actually depicts an attack!

Not everyone is like that. Not everyone starts out like that. The problem starts when the romance period ends and two lovers settle down to the rigmarole of making a life together. I know I write about this way too much. I'm single.

Everything worth having takes work, and even the length of the rhyme illustrates the short-term thinking that pervades expectations for romance and happiness in families.

16 May 2010

iJunk: Status Symbol

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I follow a blog where today the author detailed a list of reasons why you don't need an iPad. He makes a good point. Nobody actually "needs" an iPad. Everyone can get along without one just fine. Like everything else produced by Apple, it's simply a status symbol.

For a brief period of time, I owned an iPod. Most of the time I spent listening to music was in my car, and rather than buy an adaptor for iPod-Cassette, I just listened to cassette mix tapes, which I already filled with songs I like. After I realized I had no use or desire to keep it, I sold it and I own nothing from Apple. They have some neat applications, but I don't really need them. I use a MacBook at work from time to time, but I leave it chained up in a drawer when I go home.

As to this post, allow me to summarize. You already have plenty of devices that do exactly what the iPad does. They do it better. They are designed to. The iPad unites them into one device, but it's not optimized to do any of them well. In order to integrate with any of your other devices, you have to buy aftermarket adaptors from Apple. These are rather pricey. Electronic devices have not made our lives simpler. Now we worry about whether we have them or not, if the battery will last, and if we'll have signal. They have become a way for people to track us when we want to be alone, chains that reduce our freedom in some ways when people think they absolutely have to get ahold of us for the most asinine banalities imaginable. I heard today the iPhone v4 will be out soon. Everything from Apple is a fad and has to be constantly updated. I have owned three actual cellular phones in my entire life and I only dumped the first one when they forced me onto the digital network. The second one died when I dropped it off a cliff... Make it do or do without.

If you own Apple and love it and always have, then you're the exception. Most people who buy Apple products do so to fit in. They use their iTouch/iPad/iPod/iPhone/iWhatever to update their Facebook and Twitter and play dumb games in low quality. You're not cool if you have a regular phone, especially if it doesn't have a camera. Phones are for status, to show what you or the business who gave it to you can afford. iDontcare.

There are advantages to old things. They are easy to fix yourself. They are cheaper to register, to insure, and to operate. They are not fit with chips from Echelon so the CIA can track what you do URL or IRL. Books don't require batteries to be read. Radio doesn't require special earbuds or have a
Doomseed to destroy your entertainment. Nobody wants to steal old technology, and in fact you can probably pick up extra spares on Craigslist or through Freecycle. I do. Many old things are tried and true, which is why they still work in the first place.

I watch what comes out. I learn how it works and what it's useful for. The iPAD doesn't do anything new that I can't do better with something I already own. If you're a techie and you love that kind of stuff, great, but you don't need one. My needs are small, I buy them all at the nickel and dime. It gives me great freedom to do other things with my time and money.

14 May 2010

Housing Market Returns to Free-Market Levels

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As some of you know, I have been looking for a house for over a year now (since March of 2009). I refused all along to pay more than asking price and lost a few other properties to better offers or "cash" buyers. Truth is that this was a bunch of speculation and false signage. Now we have the truth. According to a report out today, with the expiration of the housing tax credit, the market has responded as I hoped and expected it would.


One full week after the tax credit's expiration, mortgage applications fell 9.5 percent; this as mortgage interest rates dropped below 5 percent.


Inventory is up, applications are down, and the prices are headed back where they were.

There have been some suspect behaviors in the past few months. An appraiser friend of mine says that banks have been asking for $10-15K more than offers when they counter. He thinks that's to cover the back taxes they owe as well as gobble up the tax credit. My realtor reported that prices were up about $10K, suspiciously near the tax credit, so that banks would essentially get the money and you would put it into your loan. She told me that offices were flooded with people desperate to buy before the credit expired facing a shrinking inventory. My realtor says that cash buyers are speculative investors who borrowed the money already from somewhere else. I have seen homes on which I made offers come back on the market a few months later in better condition albeit $30-50K above the previous price. This week I went to a new housing tract where I can buy a new and nicer home for that. The investors are crazy to think I'll pay that. A friend of mine in banking said there was no excuse for that because banks are sitting on inventory. I saw a house last Friday where there was no sign out front as many are- completely without signage. KXNT News reported yesterday in Las Vegas that we are in the 40th consecutive month at the top of foreclosures with 1 in 69 homes in the metro area receiving foreclosure notices. Consider that 1 in 25 homes are already there, and there should be TONS of inventory. Banks were holding it to inflate the price and create bidding wars. Add to that, starting 5 April there were new incentives for banks to close short sales. That didn't stop Chase from countering an offer I made on a home at $14,000 more than my offer which was $11,000 over list price. They think they can have their cake and eat it too at my expense. I don't think so; I know the law and current events.

Two weeks after that, there are new homes on the market near my price range. Some of them are new listings. Some of them are price reductions of about $10,000. Hmm... Good thing I didn't get caught up in the bidding war and overpay now that prices are headed back in my direction. Add to that, I expect that many people who were in the market a month ago will be out now that there is no tax credit to offset their purchase investment. As Vegas continues to lose jobs and tourism dollars, there will be less demand for housing. If we pass a law like Arizona, say goodbye to a large part of our population as well.

Later today the Treasury will release a report on how effective their program was. I expect they will lie and gloss over the realities. Truth is that it was an abject failure. The banks got the money in the end. The people got screwed again, because government transferred more of our money from us to the banks. I thought banks were evil. They're not stupid. They wanted a piece of the pie too.

So this week, I have made three offers on three different and rather large and nice homes. I may make another offer this weekend. I would have liked the tax credit, because I could use it, but if the price goes down another $8000, I will consider it even.