LA Area Port Traffic in August
Submitted by
CalculatedRisk on Tue, 09/15/2009 - 1:19pm (145 comments)
Shopping at Amazon?
Wait! If you click on the Amazon banner link at the top of the page first, HCN will get a percentage of anything you purchase for 24 hours!
Open predictions
Our local book authors
User login
Who's online
There are currently 3 members and 143 guests online.
Currently online
Recent Recommendations
but what are they shipping?
Good question.
Zero % interest rates definitely mean the recession is over - for banks.
instead of blindly looking at numbers we should also qualify them to see the fundamentals behind them
`I'm gettin' nothin for Christmas,
'Cause I ain't been nothin' but bad....
...I think I have heard that song before...
Is this about medical
?
China would certainly be buying US cars, what else are they going to get with US dollars?
The temporary tariffs of 8-30% were originally scheduled to remain in effect until 2005. They were imposed to give U.S. steel makers protection from what a U.S. probe determined was a detrimental surge in steel imports. More than 30 steel makers had declared bankruptcy in recent years. Steel producers had originally sought up to a 40% tariff.
Holy flies upon the
these stories are bringing about 
to 
The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index .BADI, which tracks rates to ship dry commodities, softened further on Tuesday with slow business weighing on sentiment.
The index, which gauges the cost of shipping resources including iron ore, cement, grain, coal and fertiliser, dropped 0.78 percent or 19 points to 2,431 points.
"It is a kind of market that is quiet and there is a fair bit of sideways movement at the moment," Derek Langston, a director with SSY Consultancy and Research, said.
As for the tariff, I'm simply not going to believe that President Obama didn't first discuss it with the Chinese
-- China would certainly be buying US cars, what else are they going to get with US dollars? --
Recyclable paper and plastics. Non-ferrous scrap & agricultural products.
I wonder how many containers re-shipped unopened, and what rolled on the ro-ros
I spot the tariff
but I did not spot the debt relief
edit: Clapton, please have mercy on me
I thought America was shipping old TVs to china and electronic waste?
From pigged thread:
Son of mp reports the following anecdote, a discussion with a Suzuki dealer in a small (pop. 30,000) city in the midwest:
The current interest rate is 1.9%. Financing for those under 25 years of age is "unavailable" without a "gold-plated co-signer over 25."
The dealer hasn't sold a sports bike in over 12 months, and is hanging on by selling large four-wheelers ($10,000 plus). Interestingly, the majority of these buyers are older, not interested in financing, and are paying in cash (literally $100 bills).
The dealer relates that, in a discussion with the local Ford dealer, the Ford man says sales are brisk. He is selling every unit he has ordered. However, he is keeping his inventory low, much to the chagrin of the regional Ford sales representative.
The Ford dealer says there's a rumor going around that only Ford will survive this crisis. People are concerned about parts and maintenance support, hence he thinks his sales are related to that rumor.
China would additional reduce its combined yearly export quotas for all rare-earth elements to 35,000 tons a year, from 53,000 tons last year and almost 66,000 tons as recently as 2005.
Remember The Oil Crisis? Get Ready For The Chinese Dysprosium Crisis | The Truth About Cars
Why doesn't somebody find out what the highest price is paid currently-compared to spot prices, that scrap metal dealers are giving for copper, steel and cardboard?
There's your telltale sign...
That's what was being shipped back to the Far East in empty Cargo Cult Containers from San Pedro, in a big way.
Greenspan used to like watching cardboard and boxes, so any info on that stuff?
Last year, up until the scrap biz died, cardboard was fetching $200 a ton, and then it went down to $20 a ton, last fall.
How much is it now?
2002 United States steel tariff - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Anything newer?
Since shipping and Christmas go together, here's some mood music.
YouTube - I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas
That would take a big container too.
hmmm
Paper and pulp producers raised prices this week as the once-beleaguered industry takes advantage of several years of capacity cuts amid scattered signs of a post-recession rise in demand
Yahoo! 404 - Page Not Found
One thing we are no slouch at, is leftovers...
We have a world-wide reputation as "The Saudi Arabia of scrap metal"
"The U.S. went from 2.2 million housing starts, down to 450,000 and this was where the market bottomed out this spring."
"A healthy market should have four to five months supply of new housing available, but currently there are 12 months worth of unsold homes. This leads to an over supply of lumber, which in turn leads to the lumber prices plummeting," Clogg added.
According to Clogg the prices that are being paid for lumber today are the prices that were being paid for lumber 30 years ago, in 1980.
"It is quite amazing," added Clogg.
http://www.bclocalnews.com/bc_north/lakesdistrictnews/news/56422032.html
Looks like the Chinese will take it in the shorts on this one.
We have a world-wide reputation as "The Saudi Arabia of scrap metal"
-no $#!t! wherever I go in my little world, I see scrap iron everywhere.
coal too
It seems like China is stocking up on commodities. One other person bought commodities like there was a shortage and that was Hitler before he invaded Poland. Can we trust the Chinese?
Surprised age has anything to do with it.
Our largest scrap metal buyer in the 1930's and early 1940's, was Japan.
Doc - the guy commenting on lumber is really named Clogg?
Presumably friends with Mr Chips the Builder, Mr Sparks the Electrician, and Mr Shafts the Banker.
C
"early 1940s" is a bit off - their resentment over embargoes was a big part of the run-up to PH as i understand it
I will smoke some hopium and go with xmas surprising to the upside. That explains the numbers you see for the imports.
In fact I think Xmas season sales revenue has incresed every year, including from 07 to 08.
Hey nova, is it just me or has traffic around here ( dc metro area) gotten REALLY bad lately?
Steel is cheap!
WORLD CARBON STEEL PRICES, STEEL PRICES, STEEL PRICE FORECASTS, HISTORIC STEEL PRICES
But AIR is holding up
June '41 seems like it'd be early 40's enough, for most scrutinizers.
I wish I had a microphone hooked up to a monitor so I could keep count of how many trains go through my neighb and apply those metrics to railfax numbers
-- We have a world-wide reputation as "The Saudi Arabia of scrap metal" --
With their new state of the art foundries coming on-line and cheap energy resources, Saudi Arabia will become the Saudi Arabia of (re-manufactured) scrap metal.
LA Port music:
Joni Mitchell-California (BBC)
California
YouTube - Joni Mitchell : Amelia (Live '83)
Comrade Alexei - and a spectrum analyzer, so you can tell density/volume from the tone, thus whether the trains are likely to be full or not.
C
back to the sunshine....
Paper.
My sister works for a pulp and paper mill. They make toilet paper, napkins, towels etc for hotels, resturants, fast food.
They used to ship 28 semi trucks a day, now they ship 4.
The entire plant was closed over the Labor day weekend. One roll machine has not run at all for several months. One shift has been cut. (used to be 24/7)
joni's blue/c&s phase is one of the greatest of any american musician, like gershwin in the early 30s, hendrix in the late 60s, miles in the early 60s, etc
comrade mike (profile) wrote on Tue, 9/15/2009 - 2:46 pm
reply ignore user
It seems like China is stocking up on commodities. One other person bought commodities like there was a shortage and that was Hitler before he invaded Poland. Can we trust the Chinese?
China stopped stockpiling a few months ago.
Which Chinese are you worried about trusting?
The ones in Bejing or Taipei, or down the block from your home, extended family with family members in the party as well as not. ....
It's a rather large, disorganized group you're asking a specific question about.
"This photograph of Chinese Americans picketing at the Port of Astoria appeared in the Oregon Journal on March 3, 1939. The picket was organized to protest the sale of scrap iron and steel to Japan, where it was recycled into war material. At the time of the protest, the Japanese government was waging an undeclared war against China. In 1939 approximately 2,000,000 tons of scrap metal were exported from the United States to Japan."
http://www.ohs.org/education/oregonhistory/historical_records/dspDocument.cfm?doc_ID=CB7C956A-CEB0-D5DA-884B4ABC852E60ED
Things Change...
Mish covered part of this yesterday but read the whole story. I'd be upset to if my view was blocked and the night sky wasn't dark any more. Cheap shipes every were.
Revealed: The ghost fleet of the recession anchored just east of Singapore | Mail Online
You stupid Yanks had better get those import numbers up.
Why do you think the Chinese are buying your debt, anyway?
One roll machine has not run at all for several months.
She should have looked for new work as soon as this happened, because once those paper roll machines stop, they need new bearings to start again. If the owner didn't even bother turning it every day to keep it operational, he must have known the plant was closing. There was a big NY Times article about this paper mill where the power had shut off and the workforce was fired, but the owner would come in, every single day, to hand crank his roll machines, to make sure he could start them up again without replacing those bearings when work started flowing.
Josap, you in the Willamette valley by any chance
Juvie - it was more efficient a few years later when they made it on the spot.
C
Maybe that explains why they were buying the debt. Now it is just the momentum of a highly-concentrated portfolio.
It so affected our psyches, having given them the means with which to kill us, that on the Doolittle Raid, Japanese medals were attached to some of the bombs, as a little scrap metal payback, if you will...
http://www.privateletters.net/PHOTOS_PTO/pto113.jpg
You know, now that I think on it, it was the new york times, so maybe the cranking thing was bullshit.
no reason to get too worked up over it - after all, George HW's daddy was one of the financiers that made the 3d reich happen. forgive and forget.
Why bother with assesing the banks when you've got a credit line to the taxpayers?
Sen. Levin Urges FDIC to Borrow Money From Treasury
Sen. Carl Levin (D., Mich.) sent a letter to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair on Tuesday urging her to borrow money from the Treasury Department instead of hitting thousands of community banks with another special assessment to recapitalize the insurance fund that backstops deposits.
I'm in Arizona.
The paper co is a big international one. They haven't closed any plants here, yet. Sis is pretty high up in the food chain.
''Leadership means that 'the buck stops here,''' Obama said in March of 2006 as he opposed a debt limit increase sought by former President George W. Bush. ''Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.''
Those rollers are the size of a BIG living room. No clue how you would hand crank one of those monsters.
Hoopajoops LTD: I've worked in pulpmills and around some other massive rotating equipment. If it's down and you want it to work later, you give it a good quarter-turn every once in a while. Shaft-droop was the reason given to me, but pulp machines are usually much wider than paper ones.
My personal favorite is lime kilns - long rotating steel tubes a dozen or more feet across and hundreds of feet long. One definitely wants to ensure they can rotate again.
Seasonally adjusted between 2000 and 2002 on the import side, but safely 2007 on the export side. So what happens when foreign governments don't renew their broad-based stimulus because the United States is benefiting from them the most? I should say, did not renew them in time rather. Such large packages require at least 3 months from idea to delivery, realistically 6 months lag is likely. There is so much insanity and overconfidence. I was wrong on my market timing call (first week of August, I was especially annoying about it), and I have to content myself with a German election now
Isn't she required to increase assessments by law? I would have figured the LOC from the Treasury would just be a temporary thing to relieve any concerns there might be about timing and the amount of money remaining in the fund.
They say one man can't make a difference...
Bush the elder was a hot-shot Avenger pilot, and there was a Japanese listening-post called Ichi Jima that was nearly impregnable. On a bombing mission his plane was shot down, along with many others, and about a dozen fliers bailed out, 11 of which drifted towards Ichi Jima, where they were killed and the garrison commander made his men eat their kidneys.
The other pilot drifted away from the island and was picked up by a submarine, and made it back to spawn.
''Leadership means that 'the buck stops here,''' Obama said in March of 2006 as he opposed a debt limit increase sought by former President George W. Bush. ''Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.''
Psyche! Fooled ya!
Amazing how people fall for this again and again and again.
HollywoodHack,
Yah, she was great back then; I saw her several times @ Red rocks w/ pat metheny & jaco
60 day return via Govt. Motors disclaimer
I just wonder if dealers or the govt. will pay me, per car, to get into parking lot fender benders or minor accidents with all those buyers to lock them into becoming a real purchasee per agreement...they can alert me where the cars are at in the city via Onstar hack
I immediately invest it in SRS and lose....or get the inside scoop since I'm on thier side 
In order for You to qualify for the repurchase of Your Eligible Vehicle:
The Eligible Vehicle must be a new 2009 or 2010 model.You have purchased an Eligible Vehicle and taken Delivery between September 14, 2009 and November 30, 2009.You must be able to deliver to the Participating Dealership a clean and unencumbered title to the Eligible Vehicle, which title has remained in Your name since the Delivery Date of the Eligible Vehicle.You must be an individual natural person who is the title owner of the Eligible Vehicle. Businesses, corporations and partnerships do not qualify.Your Eligible Vehicle's odometer must not have more than 4,000 miles since the Delivery Date.Your Eligible Vehicle must have been registered and insured in the Buyer's name since the Delivery Date.Your Eligible Vehicle must have no more than $200 of damage as determined by GM or GM's agent. Such damage may include, without limitation, internal or external scratches, scrapes, dents, odors, rips, burns, etc.Your Eligible Vehicle may not be leased.Your Eligible Vehicle must have been returned to a Participating Dealership where You purchased it, in the same working order as it was on the Delivery Date. Your Eligible Vehicle must not have incurred damage or non-warranted repairs in excess of $200, regardless of whether such damage has been repaired. Your Eligible Vehicle must not have been subject to any liens or other security interests other than a lien for the original financing used to purchase the Eligible Vehicle.A minimum of thirty (30) days must have passed since the Delivery Date of Your Eligible Vehicle.Only one Eligible Vehicle may be returned per household.Your Eligible Vehicle must pass a purchase inspection conducted by GM or GM's agent.
" but I never painted the majority of Americans as comparatively idiotic."
What's the cognitive psychology name for the fact that most people believe that everyone else thinks like they do?
I doubt the video overstates things
FD--even the best & brightest, not to mention YT, are nuts.....
and jaco also goes on the all time list - for great musicians utterly destroyed by alcohol. maybe the top of it.
The other pilot drifted away from the island and was picked up by a submarine, and made it back to spawn.
well, it's said that God does have a sense of humor.
yes, the premia are on a floating schedule based on the reserves in the DIF. the political problem is the timing of the Q3 special assessment. obviously, the smaller banks, which are deposit intensive, don't want to do the heavy lifting, but at the same time, Bair's proposal to base assessment on risk (e.g. prop trading) or size hasn't gone anywhere.
so the solution appears to be to borrow from the Treasury. I believe the first $100B is a basic line of credit, no questions asked. The remainder up to $500B requires a systemic risk designation between the President, FDIC, and Federal Reserve.
More Kooaid please:
House nears OK on dramatic expansion of college student aid
KansasCity.com | 404
One thing I noticed on EHP's video, was all of the mouth-breathers with their over-the-top signs in DC, that practically screamed out...
See-Me Dig-Me
Everybody is on the hunt for their 15 minutes of fame and likely to get it, with the advent of youtube and the like, around nowadays.
I sense a trend here:
Lentine last week began notifying other lawyers, urging them to get involved.
Sheriff's spokesman Lt. Randy Christian said the sheriff's department has had to cut spending in all areas since the County Commission slashed funding as a result of the county's financial crisis. But Christian said that to say jail officials are "rationing" toilet paper is an overstatement.
Lawyers donate toilet paper to 'frugal' Jefferson County Jail | Stories from The Birmingham News - al.com
Much to the amazement of not only the show but of toilet paper factories across America, 20 million people that watched the Carson show that evening ran out in the morning and bought as much toilet paper as they could carry. By noon on December 20, 1973, practically every store in America was out of stock. Many of the stores tried to ration this valuable paper but they could not keep up with the demand no matter what they did.
iata - Google News
IATA says airlines see no recovery untl 2013
Yields per seat falling 12% this year, no expectation of that ever going back up. Cargo yield down 15% ths year.
227 freight aircraft are already grounded, the rest are only flying half full
`
The self-sustaining recovery should boom as shippers and airliners default and can't operate in bankruptcy because everything is cashflow negative with oil at these levels
Small correction....it wasn't the owner, it was former workers, hoping for the best.
Owners were long since cashed out
Moody's and S&P give CA cash flow borrowing top-tier ratings
Bond Buyer Online - Page Not Found
LOL
It was standard operating procedure for my parents to each pack a roll of toilet paper in their suitcase, upon their Iron Curtain calls in the 1970's...
Mr. Whipple Left It Out: Soft Is Rough on Forest
What Mr. Whipple Didn't Say: Fluffy Paper Is Costly to Forests - NY Times
With a global recession, however, that may be changing. In the past few months, sales of premium toilet paper have plunged 7 percent nationally, said Ali Dibadj, a senior stock analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Company, a financial management firm, providing an opening for makers of recycled products.
Marcal, the oldest recycled-paper maker in the country, emerged from bankruptcy under new management last year with a plan to spend $30 million on what is says will be the first national campaign to advertise a toilet tissue’s environmental friendliness. Marcal’s new chief executive, Tim Spring, said the company had seen intense interest in the new product from chains like Walgreens. The company will introduce the new toilet tissue in April, around Earth Day
Mr. Spring said Marcal would be able to price the new tissue below most conventional brands, in part because of the lower cost of recycled material.
take a name, when Obama made that statement, it was well before it was realized how dire was our situation, in terms of world-wide total economic collapse. The increase in the debt spending, authorized by congress, under Obama, I believe, was necessary as an emergengy measure to stave off a much worse reality, had he not done so. If you believe that extensions to unemployment insurance were wasteful, or projects under ARRA, please say so, for the record.
edit: and by the way, for what were Bush's debt increases to be used? I'm sure they weren't near as important. If so, make your case.
senior toilet paper analyst, who also works with Treasury instruments and other useless waste products...
i've seen several recent news stories on Dreamliner order cancellations.. i guess the airlines were kicking the can with their commitments. now that the plane is near operational, the airlines are eating the cancellation fees.
ABBA = American Bankers Bullshitting America
YouTube - ABBA-money money money
" SEATTLE, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Adobe Systems Inc (ADBE.O) announced a $1.8 billion deal to buy business software maker Omniture Inc (OMTR.O) on Tuesday as it looks to counter falling sales from its Photoshop and Acrobat programs.
Adobe, which reported lower fiscal third-quarter sales and profit on Tuesday, has been struggling to grow in the economic downturn as corporations rein in technology spending."
Dumb move...should have returned cash to shareholders. Absolutely no similarities between the two companies except that they both produce "information technology".
It's a windfall for the founders of Omniture, though. It's a cash purchase, not stock.
The last word on wiping your
bottom
Recycled Tissue and Toilet Paper Guide
Tissue Guide | Greenpeace USA
and for those with bidets: Eddie Money- Gimme some Water
YouTube - Eddie Money- Gimme some Water
Ok, time to move on....
I breath through my nose. But thanks for the insult ...
The question is... so how will the coming trade war with China effect the inbound port traffic. I'm sure there are a number of 3rd world dictatorships that just can't wait for the US to restrict imports from China so they can take a share of the importers pie.
Makes you wonder what all those unemployed Chinese factory workers are going to do ?
Time to short Moody's again? So tiresome.
I also saw the articles on Dreamliner cancellations. Good, efficient spending on the cancellations, I reckon. Imagine taking delivery of an aircraft that costs millions to run, on your own account no matter how brilliant your business model, service, route rights, and cosiness with multiple governments and regulators, and then entails billions in infrastructure spending at airports around the world on other operators', owners', and investors' accounts. Way too many unknowns there.
And then factor in a global depression.
Looks like a late duck.
C
Can I lend you a vowel movement?
Damn, and now i can't edit ...
rosethorn,
That does seem odd, but maybe this is a way to manipulate data beyond Excel and find a new interface for data? The buzzword seems to be Cross-channel optimization, which seems to be a new way to suggest diversification. Bad timing IMHO.
Or capitalize.
Sorry, Edith.
C
the purchase allows Adobe to smooth earnings via goodwill, etc.
Having cash crises and issuing IOUs used to be a bad thing. Now, the rating agencies are like "you'll probably screw vendors before you screw noteholders, so yeah, you're top-tier.'
Seriously, what a bunch of clowns. That was only, what, a month ago? /end rant
I also saw the articles on Dreamliner cancellations. Good, efficient spending on the cancellations...then entails billions in infrastructure spending at airports around the world on other operators', owners', and investors' accounts.
Sounds like the poster child of the 1980s-2000s credit boom. Only a sustained ponzi growth environment could fathom the Dreamliner--great name for this beast--would be a good capital investment. Everything about it says "Too much." from its design, production to its physical size and capacity. Great icon to store in the Smithsonian. We can take the children of tomorrow through a tour of Big Rockets that went to the moon to Big Planes that ate the GDP of sub-Saharan Africa and beyond and were never seen from the ground.
"Yes, Virginia, there really is Big Enough To Fail."
never mind soft, do we really need it to be white (or do the two go together?)
Oh, what I've missed by wasting time working.
Adobe went the same way Symantec did....from a cutting edge, reliable, well priced product to total bloatware dependent on corporate/educational spending. Sad, really, but seems to be human nature (vid. every car co.)
Seriously, what a bunch of clowns. That was only, what, a month ago?
In Bizarro World, it sounds like an okay risk if you know they will screw everyone else before they think about screwing the noteholders. If enough vendors just outright give up and refuse to serve the CA government, what kind of corruption or graft can the politicians and bureaucrats peddle? Imagine a world where the corrupt couldn't find anyone who would deal with them...
So earlier we had the UMichigan Consumer Confidence Index up, but now the today it's reported that the ABC Consumer Confidence is turning downward: which one is correct?
When i practiced law, i would read and reread my work because one of the senior partners was a bear about typos. Even so, i would nearly always miss one or more of them. Funny how the eye reads what is meant and not what is there.
But I've got a funny.
I evict people from a rather nice residential facility. SROs, basically. with kitchens
and appliances. The tenants have to do drug tests.
Part of the file is a letter, to wit:
Please be at xyz at 9:30 On September the 4th, 2009, for your randomized
drug test." I am not kidding.
And he didn't show up!!
which one is correct?
Funny how the eye reads what is meant and not what is there.
Kinda like reading Ben's 2002 speech or Obama's 2008 campaign speeches?
umich is consumer sentiment.
the confidence board releases consumer confidence.
i think the confusion allows the talking heads to cherry pick.
The hub is very careful, and on one paper, both he and a world class JHU prof went over and over
it. When it came out, it took about 2 seconds to notice a typo.
pretty subjective in the face of an $8.8 billion borrowing
yagij - absolutely. There was an article recently about correlations of massive skyscraper projects as presaging a collapse, presumably for similar market psych reasons in that only in the fit of a wild boom would anyone pour that amount of capital into the Empire State Bldg, Sears Tower, most of Pudong, Petronas Towers, Burj Al-Arab et al. The Dreamliner seems a bit like the flying skyscraper equivalent.
Ok, space programs too.
C
just 99 shopping days till xmas...
I'll be losing my home this Christmas
You can count on me
The sheriff showed and I must go
For I feel his presence on the street
Christmas Eve will find me
Where the motel light gleams
I'll be home for Christmas
If only in my dreams
What's the difference between sentiment and confidence?
is it the difference between prone and supine?
josap (profile) wrote (in reply to...) on Tue, 9/15/2009 - 6:12 pm
I'm in Arizona. The paper co is a big international one. They haven't closed any plants here, yet. Sis is pretty high up in the food chain.
Are you upwind or downwind of the plant?
Noooooooo! Noooooo!
I'll certainly be the first to not trust a statistic or poll, but I would like to know why I'm not trusting before I leap there. It's not always that the numbers are off so much as they're not on at the moment of release. take any unemployment release, and then go back and look at it 2 weeks later and it's been updated without a press release.
pretty subjective in the face of an $8.8 billion borrowing
Sounds like dealing with the US Financial system. Matter of fact, I'm starting to think that the two worlds are horribly inter-meshed with each other...
I am becoming suspicious of initial unemployment, not how the stats are accounted for, per se; but I'm hearing that it is becoming more difficult to qualify for unemployment, and this would indirectly affect the stat of course
Why did they put all the space stuff mostly in the Lone Star State?
Texans take up space in school...
using negative variables instead of positive ones is stupid
LBJ
B. Eason (profile) wrote on Tue, 9/15/2009 - 6:56 pm
So earlier we had the UMichigan Consumer Confidence Index up, but now the today it's reported that the ABC Consumer Confidence is turning downward: which one is correct?
Obviously, it's the one that supports your point of view-
Juvenal - LOL!
The dents in the consumer confidence shows that some economists are dense.
Well, there are only so many features that can be added to a product. Then there's no business model left.
Beat me to it.
The Florida stuff is in Fla on a cape sticking out in the Ocean, at
a place which was lightly inhabited at the time. Thus no boondoggles
involved.
You gotta think outside the mocks.
I know, i get too literal late in the afternoon
A new foreclosure client.
He relates that a friend in the building stayed there free for 2 years (they paid maintence
because the assn has gotten fierce), and then they moved to a really big rental in the same
building, at only 1k per month. Total. Assn fees are at least $400 for that unit. No cash flow
there, methinks.
He relates that a friend in the building stayed there free for 2 years
I wonder what is going to happen when people will actually have to start paying for rent or on the mortgage. Will it blow up the family balance sheet, or will there be surplus savings driving up rents?
Well....it's not just the adding of features, its the removal/dumbing down of the existing ones....
my rant was more @ Sym. than Adobe, but then I have the Gimp......
Deleted.
Poor Gretchen was interviewed lengthily at NPR this morning.
Seems like she's been reading Caluculated Risk.
...the Gimp...
Gimp Is More Precious.
Gimp Intentionally Mocks Photoshop.
Gimp Is My Preference.
Acrobat 5.0 was the last good release, 8 and 9 are just terrible. Talk about bloatware crap.
Toodle-oooooo.
I'm off to watch old lady hearthrob Mark Harmon on NCIS.
And where is FFDIC? Seems like he would be in his element these days.
Hmmm, workin for the man perhaps?
"Forgive me, but isn't not having typos in law real important. "
depends on the typo. but believe me, no court is going to void a 50 page bond closing document due to the fact that the word "becuase" has transposed vowels. this was before spell check, btw. i guarantee you that you can read and read and read, one ... word .... at ... a ..... time .... and still miss those suckers. eventually you get to a point of diminishing returns.
reminds me of one time when the underwriter wouldn't close becuase a certain guarantee from one of the parties was "absolutely required." so we got the document, sent out the final package and the deal closed. after the closing, i found the guarantee on a desk. it had never been included in the package. a lot of legal work consists in just getting jacked around for no reason whatsoever.
one of the more pathetic trends is people suing bigger commercial/multifamily brokers because a single 2.5 Bath in an 80 unit was misrepresented as a 2 Bath etc. For some reason, these kinds of suits just didn't happen in 2004-7. Wonder why?
The first thing we do is kill all of the lawyers jobs.
(with apologies to Billy)
Do they randomize people out there? That's sick stuff.
Truth be said, most of my drug testing is randomized.
I'm sure what they mean is that their names were picked, at random, from a list. No need to make this any more stupid or sinister than it already is.
Re German elections
whomever has the tightest fiscal policy while promising the greatest job growth will win.
Casino Capitalism: Fortune Editor Andy Serwer Says Administration Gaming System For Wall Street Titans
Casino Capitalism: Fortune Editor Andy Serwer Says Administration Gaming System For Wall Street Titans
Earlier this morning, Morning Joe's Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski were joined by Fortune Magazine Managing Editor Andrew Serwer and our own co-founder/editor-in-chief Arianna Huffington in Carlsbad, California at the Fortune Magazine Most Powerful Women Summit to talk about how Wall Street has fared in the age of bailouts.
Asked about Goldman Sachs and their post-TARP fortunes, Serwer used a pretty telling metaphor:
SERWER: I mean, it's amazing to me that as we recover, you know, come out of this financial crisis, you know, you'd expect a company like Goldman Sachs maybe things are improving, make a little money. But they have a record quarter. In other words, they made more money in this three month period than they ever had in any other--
SCARBOROUGH: [archly] But they just made some good guesses, right?
SERWER: Well, I don't know if it's okay or not, but I think what happened is that the government has telegraphed to Wall Street, not only Goldman Sachs but the other firms what it was doing, what was going on, what the program was, and so, essentially, it's like telling a Goldman Sachs, "Hey, put your money on 32 Black" at the casino, at the roulette wheel. And the thing spins and lo and behold, where does it end up, Joe?
SCARBOROUGH: 32 Black?
SERWER: 32 Black.
That's a pretty significant statement from the Managing Editor of a magazine that's going to have Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein present the "Goldman Sachs & Fortune Global Women Leaders Award" at this very Summit. And it's hard to ignore the fact what Serwer describes is a risk-free system of wealth accumulation that bears no real working resemblance to the thing we know as "capitalism."
Remember back to the 2008 campaign, when so many people worried about "wealth redistribution?" Turns out the worry was very real, but the worriers themselves are all making out pretty well!
Can somebody in the know clue us in on the change in leadership in Japan, and most likely unthought of economic consequences?
I am becoming suspicious of initial unemployment
Me, too.
That's why I usually avoid it.
.
I'm beginning to think that Mish got bonked on the head.
Or perhaps he's just trying to drive up his traffic stats with "controversial rhetoric".
The earlier discussion about scrap metal exports reminded me of a longshore I heard many years ago complaining about the Japanese buying lots of american scrap steel in the '30s for war munitions. I just found a link confirming his rant:
In 1930’s Seattle scrap steel was a case for trade sanctions: In 1930’s Seattle scrap steel was a case for trade sanctions
I am only suggesting that exports went west as well as east in the pre WWII years. Current Asian exports are probably for feeding the next Chinese bubble.
I am pigged, but I'll contribute this mental image anyway:
China makes a bunch of spiffy new microwaves, cameras, etc, loads them into containers and send them off to be used in the US.
We take all our old used microwaves, cameras, and the packaging, add some Treasury notes and bills, load them into the same containers for the return voyage.
How long will both sides be happy with this?
hey, just wanted to let you all know that it's refreshing to see so many smart, intelligent responses in general at this site. it makes me think, hey, maybe we have a chance. then i realize, no, we are fucked no matter what. we are few and far between...most Americans are watching DANCING WITH THE STARS or listening to kanye west prove that pop music is, sadly. totally indicative of the state of Amerian mainstream "taste" these days. God help us all...
For those interested, I was inspired by CR to post seasonally adjusted charts of this data. It's been about 6 months since the last time I did it. It takes a LOT of work to copy and paste individual monthly values from the adjustment program into a spreadsheet and I'm usually just too lazy to do the work.
Seasonally Adjusted Cargo Traffic
It REALLY helps to see what the underyling trends are. On a seasonally adjusted basis, we appear to have put in an inbound traffic bottom in February and and outbound traffic bottom last December.
Hope you find it useful and sorry for my long absence. I do read the comments often. I just don't post much. There are SO many posters these days and I'm generally a bit of an introvert. Go figure.