So I just ordered a Tom Tom 3rd edition with the optional RDS-TMC antenna for live traffic.
Review to come soon. :eek3:
Zac over at bloggingstocks.com has a nice scathing interpretation of whats going wrong with the SS system.
This might be my favorite quote this year: “Albert Einstein is widely quoted as having said that compound interest is the most important mathematical discovery of all-time — or words to that effect. And yet our federally mandated retirement system fails to take advantage of it, instead opting for what amounts to an elaborate Ponzi scheme, sustainable only by the rule of law and population growth.”
http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/12/16/whats-really-wrong-with-social-security/
Do people really not get it?
I need industry, stat!
http://otopia.myminicity.com/ind
http://otopia.myminicity.com
:eek3:
Look at it grow.
Lil pixel people.
How cute.
Ok, so I live in Florida, and the only winter clothing we need here is a wool covered wife beater for those oh so chilly 50 degree days. You know how hard it is to find decent winter clothes in Florida? I don’t know what size gloves I wear, so I’d wanna go to the store and try them on. Plus all the associates don’t know WTF they’re talking about.
Me: Will this jacket work for 7 degree weather?
Girl at Store: I don’t know, I’ve never been in 7 degree weather.
Why don’t they know their own product lines? Am I the only one seeing why retail is growing at such a diminished rate when opposed to online shopping?
Meh.
Cliffs: Retail Sucks.
Simply because there is no “retailmenot.com” for, well, retail.
Dec 09
Alright, I get it guys, buying a 1 bedroom condominium for “just under 140k” is a great deal, because I OWN that motherfucker outright. Forget that the average 1 bedroom apartment in Orlando is $837/mo. (http://rentalrates.blogspot.com/) That would mean at that rate I’d have to pay 30 fucking years just to own that sonofabitch. Sounds too good to be true right? Oh wait, I forgot about condo association fees and homeowners insurance, and now newfound property taxes. By the time we’re done with all of that, I’m paying nearly 500 bucks a month more for an apartment. By my unscientific calculations, it would take me about 10 years to break even.
And what do I have to show for it? A one-bedroom apartment with ZERO equity.
One could argue that I’m staking ownership in it, so that in itself could be worth it. So instead let me put it to you this way:
That extra 500 dollars a month I’m putting into the condo junk fees and ridiculous taxes, when I could be chilling in my very similar if not better nicety-nice rented apartment. (Oh, and if there’s a problem in my apartment, I don’t maintain it either.) So I put this extra 500 into some ETF’s and make twice the APR that I’m paying on my mortgage for an asset that nobody wants. (This is really the same thing as the town home market, super mega hug extra big scam as well.) Then, in the same amount of time it took to break even on a shitty condo, (assuming escalating rents, taxes, and wages are all break-even) I’ve now acquired enough flow to go out and put 20% down on a nice house, and have instant equity in a desirable asset.
Am I seeing this completely backwards? I really can’t be the only one?
This is late, I admit, the condo market has gone to crap, and they are finally slowing building townhomes, but new single family homes (Which I will refer to as SFH’s, because that reminds me of Street Fighter Hyper-Turbo Championship edition) that a scant 10 years ago were being built for 130 thousand dollars are now listed at three times that? We talk a lot about the mortgage crisis and the real estate bubble burst, (don’t you hate the term bubble?) but we’re only seeing depreciation of scant percentage points, not 250%. (Side note: Adjusting from 300% because of inflation. (a side side note: Go eat a dick, Mr. Federal Reserve!)) Holy batshit insane elasticity, batman!
Did you know that free-market construction material prices have been falling due to decreasing demand, and labor hasn’t gotten any more expensive? (I remember working for 6.15 an hour, not that a construction worker should, but still…) Tariffs and import quotas have squashed any value to that fall to consumer, and even builders are suffering deadweight loss because of it. (Insert rant about labor unions and special interests.)
Don’t you think it’s about time for prices on housing to stabilize on something reasonable? I don’t believe we’ll ever reach any type of market equilibrium, or ever have a housing shortage again, just because a large portion of sellers cannot afford to take a hit when they were just plain ignorant and entered into a stupid property contract on a way overpriced house/condo/cruise ship/kumquat/whatever.
And now the “conservative” government wants to bail these losers out, devalue my dollar and “freeze” all these ARMs. Now hold the fuck on, wait a second, I was smart, and I didn’t buy when the market was in a frenzy, now basically what you’re telling me is that all my investments, bonds and pretty much anything else is just screwed unless I ship my money overseas to some off-shore investments? (As anyone smart would do, like, NOW.)
America is fast becoming a socialist state.
Cliffs: This Sucks. Vote Ron Paul.
I walk into the bathroom at work today and see this:
:eek3: