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MBA: Purchase Applications Fall to 12 Year Low
Submitted by
CalculatedRisk on Wed, 11/18/2009 - 6:30pm (230 comments)
Maybe Congress should enact some incentives for new home buyers.
The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index has declined for six consecutive weeks and is at its lowest level since November 1997.
I'm sure that's because people are paying all cash with these low low prices.
Maybe congress can enact a bill so that you have you pay a penalty if you do not own a home, kind of like what they are doing with health insurance.
From Rosenberg:
... The tax credits for homeownership are not a win-win because they lure people out of rental units — so we now have a situation where multiple unit construction in October fell to a RECORD low of just 53,000 units at an annual rate (unreal). ...
We need incentives for mortgage lenders. Maybe a $1000 tax credit to the broker for every loan they approve.
my sister's getting a mortgage this week. been begging her to put off buying a house for another six months, but she wants to get it done NOW because she's due in jan/feb.
Ministry of Truth wrote:
Nice idea.. How about, 5 years in prison for every year that you don't have a mortgage at least 4X your income.
done NOW because she's due in jan/feb.
Just ask for an extension
Basel
6 mos?! How about another year or two
also not helping is the HAMP program which is stifling supply of the only thing people want to buy - foreclosures.
Tim waiting for 2012 wrote:
At the least.
Woops
Ministry of Truth wrote:
And savers...
I think that was the problem in the first place.
I just watched the trailer for "The Road." Jeebus, I thought I was grim.
12 year low? Wait until next year.
Why buy? Who is left who can buy?
you have to wonder at what point the NAR starts attacking the HAMP program - the only thing driving volume this summer was foreclosure sales, once those dry up there are going to be a lot of Realtors hurting for business. releasing those foreclosures would stimulate a lot of transactions.
that would give me a laugh - seeing the Realtors demanding more foreclosure sales.
Nova
The "road" movies like those will be this generations blade Runner
Riddle me this: if the "average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.83 percent", then why would "the average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs (decrease) to 6.82 percent"?
I always though ARMs gave lower (initial) interest rates -- aren't you supposed to be paid for taking on the interest-rate risk? Is it just because they're being marketed to FICO-lite clients?
DCrogers
I think it has to do with the high default rates on ARMs.
FT.com / Companies / Property - Simon eyes General Growth’s mall portfolio
MBA purchase apps are cliff diving. No V shape in that graph.
Time to die...
DCRogers wrote:
Not during an interest-rate inversion.
Is that where we're at now, I haven't been paying attention.
Just ask for an extension
yeah. not sure the stork can wait that long. worst thing is that she's in the atlanta burbs, which while down, hasn't quite crashed yet.
A troubling trend. That much more difficult for FHA to save us.
ghostfaceinvestah wrote:
Ha, Ha. There's a funny thought: run out of foreclosures.
DCRogers wrote:
The Fixed rate mortgage is going to be sold the Freddie or Fannie; the ARM is going to stay on the bank's books, so it has to make a profit.
DCRogers - from last thread - Did you know you & sporkfed both have dog tiles?
Simon Property Group buying GGP's malls? Well, that should destroy their already inflated stock pri... OMG WTF IS THE WHOLE WORLD MAD
"The Fixed rate mortgage is going to be sold the Freddie or Fannie; the ARM is going to stay on the bank's books, so it has to make a profit."
Not true, Fannie and Freddie buy conforming ARMs.
Most of the difference has to do with what the Fed is buying - if it isn't TBA-eligible, the rates will not be good.
Ministry of Truth wrote:
Let me think of some ideas... How about tax deductions for mortgage interest, and no tax deductions for rent? Or how about tax credits for homebuyers, and no credits for moving renters? Or how about..... Nah, those are all obviously unfair, so they'll never happen.
A CR poster (sorry and thank you) posted some very pathetic FICO scores for recent car buyers.
Maybe we can provide mortgages to college students with promise. No payment for six years.
"Ha, Ha. There's a funny thought: run out of foreclosures. "
Ha, ha, ha, joke's on you, foreclosure sales are way down due to HAMP.
Wait until the government waives the documentation requirement for HAMP - we are going to have zombie mortgage borrowers to go with our zombie banks.
Allen C wrote:
Make it sixty and ya got yoreself a deal!
Maybe we can provide mortgages to college students with promise. No payment for six years.
We already do. They're called student loans.
I wonder how many that rushed to get the credit before it expired are already having buyer's remorse since it's been extended?
Wow. For some unexplained reason we lepers are no longer umm... lepers.
How long before the faux econometricians are purged? What? Never? You mean they will continue to collect a salary while we amateurs get it right?
"Maybe congress can enact a bill so that you have you pay a penalty if you do not own a home"
Before this is over, I expect a gold holding tax.
"They're called student loans. "
This is a NEW program in addition.
Outsider wrote:
Yes, to my eternal** shame, I noticed sporkfed's very nice doggie tile after publicly joking about sporkfed being a "cat" person in the last thread. (Though if I step back from my computer and squint a lot, I could mistake all that fur as being embedded in a very large cat...)
** - eternal = next 10 minutes
ghostfaceinvestah wrote:
The ARM program is tiny compared to the Fixed programs. And they have cut back on them (high FICOs; low LTV) The political mandate is to keep the money flowing into vanilla fixed mortgages.
DCRogers wrote:
Because Timmy and Ben aren't buying up all the ARM loans that are being made?
Ministry of Truth wrote:
They already do-- it is called the ability to deduct your mortgage on your taxes. It is a subsidy for real estate ownership, and penalizes renters.
This is a NEW program in addition.
Oh, okay. Good thing they're all going to graduate with great jobs at such outstanding pay... phew.
EvilHenryPaulson wrote:
SPG + GGP = Spoogoop.
I did state promise. They might draw the line at liberal arts.
I blame this site. I am a potential FTHB and could do an FHA for some crappy condo in Boston thinking it is a great "investment" instead of "throwing my money away" by renting. Now, after coming here for a couple years, the words "real estate" put me in fetal position.
PS - blame=thank
I did state promise. They might draw the line at liberal arts.
Amazingly, there are many on this blog who believe liberal arts is the way to go.
I'm still scratching my head over that one.
let's do it right:
* negative interest rates (saver tax)
* "inactivity" fee for stocks, bonds, mutual funds (buy and hold tax)
* home-ownership equivalency adjustment (support tax on renters)
... sound bad? sadly, in a sense we have all three already. all that remains is to add a precious metals and commodities tax.
Basel Too wrote:
Having children : women :: having sex : men. There are just some urges that nothing can control. You can only hope to contain it.
"The ARM program is tiny compared to the Fixed programs. And they have cut back on them (high FICOs; low LTV) The political mandate is to keep the money flowing into vanilla fixed mortgages."
So you are admitting that Fannie and Freddie do have ARM programs, after you said that ARMs stay on bank balance sheets?
I don't know where the rates for ARMs came from, according to the PMMS survey they are below fixed rate (but not much).
Primary Mortgage Market Survey PMMS - Freddie Mac
ghostfaceinvestah wrote:
Foreclosure sales are down because of moratoriums on foreclosures by states and the backlog of paper work at banks. HAMP will be lucky to cover 40% of delinquinent homeowners. The other 60% are just waiting on the banks to get around to them. We will have a steady supply of foreclosure homes for a couple of years. The "shortages" of homes are limited to the worst bubble areas (though I don't think it covers LV) and mostly for the very low ends. A lot of these areas were priced out of conforming mortgages during the bubble and now the house prices are back below the (raised) limit.
Shine on you Jamie Dimon wrote:
Why wouldn't you? Get 96.5% of the money from the FHA, and get most of the remaining 3.5% from the FTHB tax credit and kickbacks from the agent and seller. If the price doesn't go up, then just quit paying the mortgage.
patientrenter wrote:
Coming from a "patient renter", I find this suggestion out of place.
Coming from a "patient renter", I find this suggestion out of place.
.
He forgot the snark tag.
MA = recourse. Plus, I don't even want to pay the condo fees on some of these atrocities
Well, I rolled out my first book of doom this morning.
Total sales to date: 2
Now I have personal doom.
I am not a liberal arts person. I am convinced that we need to foster art. The arts have suffered. Can you imagine some cool music covering this financial nonsense?
yagij wrote:
I had friend who could not rent an apartment because of bad credit, so he bought a house instead.
It was a win win situation for him.
Outsider wrote:
Oh, okay. Good thing they're all going to graduate with great jobs at such outstanding pay... phew.
Ummm, I think it's NEW program in addition. Remedial arithmetic,... can't wait till them get up to multiplication and percentages and find out what those student loans are going to take.
Woo hoo! You published!
Nova,
That was me for one book purchase.
Nova
If you haven't read "the road", you should, based on what you are writing.
If Toll was Blankfein, the Fed would now have a million houses in its portfolio.
did you get a signed copy?
yagij: did you see that 2009 had the most LSAT test takers ever? up 20% from last year.
adornosghost wrote:
FAIL (Not for your friend, but society being this far out of whack.)
Basel:
Lots of very well educated waiters coming down the line.
hi guys im back
watch my "episodes" on my computer, cbs,nbc,abc,tnt, pbs,a&e, etc etc, are online.
now on topic, i must be confused but werent purchase applications up last month? if thats the case then...fall to 12 year low dont make a bit of sense. another thing is someplace i read that boa was going start really foreclosing ,,,had couple here going to the courthouse steps come 12/1/09. another case of left hand having no idea about what the right hand is doing???
As Foreclosure Nightmares Increase, Will More Homeowners Pay Off Their Bankers in Violence? | | AlterNet
I read "The Road."
silvertoes. I love you.
Broward, no. I never sign copies I give myself.
"he bought a house instead."
Good grief. Send the story to CR. FHA I presume. We can all thank Barney!
Ghost,
Judging by my conversations with a local buyer's agent, they blame the banks for restricting supply. Next, they'll go after HAMP but they need to make sure the FTHB credit is done for first.
Basel Too wrote:
No. Earlier, I posted a link to a Vandy prof's paper showing how it isn't a good investment for the 25%-50% crowd on the ol' bell curve, and if The Law doesn't get its own super-charged mojo back, it will affect the 50-80% LSAT crowd too. Heck, The Law may return to the days when you had a place before you got the JD (because most/all states don't allow you to "read the law" any longer) because of the risk.
.
Did the article/report show what the median score was for the year?
Broward,
I'll post a review once it arrives and is read. Right now I'm busy finishing "The Black
Obelisk" before the expiration of my library loan.
Outsider wrote:
A study in physics or engineering only qualifies you to get a job toiling away at these professions; a good solid grounding in the "liberal arts" positions you to prey upon these people. You don't read Machiavelli in O Chem class.
I think it's because the stimulus and QE is going into propping up 30-year mortgages.
You can only rig so many markets at the same time.
oh that's going to end well ... ruh roh >; )
Just got back from meeting a relative at Union Station here in DC. The food court was moribund, the cinema was closed, stands were vacant.
I did see some police carrying large semi-automatic weapons, much more powerful than the machine pistols I've seen cops in Moscow carry. It's hard to imagine anyone being able to fire these powerful weapons in a train station without mowing down a few dozen commuters and other travelers, and perhaps a few merchants.
Maybe they're just meant to impress.
sdtfs wrote:
Who's My Buddy 101.
Union Station is a drug transfer point.
nova wrote:
Make that 3.
"Maybe they're just meant to impress. "
Remember Paulson's bazooka comment?
so, nova, where do we get a copy or your work?
Le Enfant plaza area by the seafood place is another.
yagij wrote:
They are trying as hard as they can to be TBTF. And I'm sure Ben and Timmy are cheering them on.
Click on my homepage link and all will be revealed.
nova wrote:
I hope not.
You've got pants on, right?
Thank you. Perhaps Pavel understands.
Even with them on I am told I am impressive.
Thank you DCRogers. That was very nice of you.
Deflationary Jane wrote:
The Law has always been the professional degree of choice for people who didn't have the science knack for Medicine or the book knack for PhD-dom. Also it was usually a good way to earn a crappy career that could pay well--unless you picked a field of Law that you really liked (rare among the lawyers I know).
spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E to me. I could be wrong, but until Congress rewrites the BK code or you can actually get law loans forgiven like med students can for their loans, I would rather petition to the return of "Read The Law" method to practice instead of playing Higher Ed. Law's game. 
.
I've put off law school for two years. Initially, it was for personal reasons, but then last Fall hit and I saw what was happening in the BigLaw world via blogs like AboveTheLaw and through personal/professional connections at the firm. I even started looking at sub-par places just for location and cost. Everyone has told me that there was no reason to worry because everything would be sorted in 4-5 years. Unfortunately for that line of thinking, everyone else is following that path (see LSAT takers increasing) which coming from an IT career at the end of the .com
nova wrote:
I think Pavel's seen enough heavy-duty weapons for today.
rich wrote:
SPG being TBTF would be icing for this bizarro world in which I find myself. Having retail/commercial property TBTF in the middle of the worse recession in a few generations is beyond dumb.
sdtfs wrote:
As a person who has worked in Tech, but a historian by education, liberal arts people often have the "social engineering skills", and a generalist perspective that gives them a view of the world that one can approach from a critical perspective, a point of view that is impossible coming from a superstition based position like business of economics, and generally more able to travel in many social circles, unlike the science types.
And anyone of reasonable intelligence can learn to program in a weekend or two, if needed.
so, nova, where do we get a copy or your work?
what's the URL on Amazon?
you can only pull so much demand forward
That's one take. The other is that they're scraping the bottom of the barrel.
There's only so much income left for debt service left out there among willing fools, and they've just about exhausted it.
hey, somebody's got to pay the school administrator's salaries
any strikes yet at UC-D?
yagij: i haven't seen the medians released for the 2009 exams.
We have 2 attorney positions open. Last time we advertised for a paralegal we got 400 plus resumes. Most of them attorneys.
"Maybe they're just meant to impress."
Collateral damage is acceptable as long as you get the bad guy. Assault rifles for our police are the mini me version of using a predator drone to drop a hellfire missile on a house in a small village.
Never could figure out how they ascertain if they actually got the bad guy. DNA? Dental records? Best guess if you don't hear from him in awhile?
nova wrote:
Yeah, but are they leather?
Yeah, but are they leather?
No. Just wizened.
sometimes brass.
wifey been calling the local religious station
the fat guy with a bad haircut was preaching and there was a number to call so she did
she asked: If Jesus is coming right now, which by the way is what the man said, then why should I send money?
If the rapture is happening 'soon' then should I pack?
What's the climate like?
I'm certain that I will be sent straight to hell and that I will see many of my friends there too.
Nova, when's the book tour ?
adornosghost wrote:
That's what many corporations thought when they outsourced.
the projects which spawned my 2008 project had almost $1 million in rework using people with a couple years experience.
nova wrote:
We didn't get all attorneys, but our spot got 6 lawyers and 5 of them were admitted to the bar. We got about 1k total before we cut off the applications and set the auto-reply to say "So Sorry." Now, we just get cold calls from law students looking for summer work or out-of-work paralegals knocking on any door they can find.
"The tax credit was extended and the eligibility expanded, but interest will probably wane (you can only pull so much demand forward)."
WTF? CR seemed to me for a bit, to be a tad optimistic. Now he's downright gloomy.
Amazon.com: American Apocalypse: The Beginning (Volume 1) (9781449575281): nova: Books
The book tour?
I don't know. From where I get my coffee in the am, to my office, and then home probably
adornosghost wrote:
You ought to warn us before you do that so's we can get our boots on.
volker,
Don't forget to ask. If the Rapture comes and I see someone going up, and I grab them by the ankles. Do I get to go too?
Wow, you can self-publish on Amazon now, nova?!
Basel Too wrote:
I know 2008 admissions were up per the ABA, and I'm sure the 2009 admissions will be up too. There is yet another ABA-accredited law school opening up in Nashville to compete with the non accredited law school there that helps the folks that are too dirty to grace the floors at Vandy. What is more crazy is they raised 15 million to get it started starting back in '04 or '05 if I remember correctly.
.
Another 5th or 6th tier school with zero years under its belt charging 25-30k/semester/year for school.
BTW, I've seen paratroopers patrolling the streets of Moscow. I don't remember them being heavily armed, but they were much scarier to look at than the heavily armed tactical police in Union Station. They were scary human beings. You wouldn't want to make eye contact with them. You might even want to cross the street and walk on the other side.
Of course, there's a difference between police and special forces. Police are trained to deal with the public. Those other guys were trained to kill the public.
Yep. Pretty nice and easy way of doing it.
broward wrote:
As a subject matter expert on a transition to moving a development center to Bangalore, I know exactly of what you speak. Now China, they knew what they were doing. Perhaps a bit too much...
broward wrote:
Point well taken. It becomes a matter of curiosity. And I do have more than "couple" years experience.
But I was sitting on Maui with this great pipe out, and a lot of time on my hands.
Reuters.com
Fund manager Paulson to start new gold fund: report
| Reuters
You got another sale. See how easy business can be ?
broward wrote:
duh!
and no matter what it is
Hey, didja think it was from God's lips to your pen?
It's all about marketing. do you have an ISBN number (that's the bar code controlled globally by the Berlin monopoly, and you actually thought we won), do you have a network you've been developing? I could go on.
And I wish you all the best. I'm sure you will do just fine.
I'm told there was one at Mrak Hall and a big one at UCB. Ironically, I was off today and spent my time either at the courthouse or talking with my probate pro.
My LSAT is very stale, taken in 04 and even back then I thought it was a marginal investment. Can you imagine what recent grads are thinking now?
Yeesh guys. Between sponsoring tiles on HCN and buying your books, I'm going to even more broke.
Deflationary Jane wrote:
Honestly, I'd vote that they aren't thinking. They are thinking about law school like J6P was thinking how government "stimulus" was going to save J6P's way of life.
wally wrote:
If the
built houses I'm sure we would. How many DOES the Fed own anyway via MBS?
I went on a cruise to Mexico right after 9/11. A Mexican soldier with an automatic rifle on the dock. All 5 foot of him.
DCRogers wrote:
Where's the 6 handle in SRS - Eric promised.
sporkfed wrote:
There were armed Coast Guard on the Ferry from Larkspur to SF the other day.
A first.
Deflationary Jane wrote:
"Mom! Bring me some cheesy poofs?
pavel.chichikov wrote:
When, Pavel?
ugh! no offense, but we do not need one more lawyer. This is just one more career that we love here that does nothing to increase our productivity.
yagij wrote:
But think about all that good karma!
sporkfed - I love you too
Yankee wrote:
But it does make us more competitive.
By outsourcing lawyers to the rest of the planet, we bring them down to our level.
The 82nd Airborne patrolled DC in 1969
I looked for the grenade launcher under the barrel but didn't see one.
Volume 1 assumes there is Volume 2, right?
Yankee wrote:
Nope, but helping you slander your client's wife by filing a motion for a psych exam because her mother is crazy is the kind of comedy gold that you can only get with a law degree. Plus, you might get to watch other people's homemade videos, bill for it, and no one thinks of you as a pervert as long as you wrinkle your face when you mention that you've reviewed it 4 times in 2 hours...
broward wrote:
Can we organize airdrops?
I can speak by way of personal anecdotes for Canada that law school did become a catch-all choice
Now the big firms have tightened their party planning budgets, and it doesn't stop there
law school is the new furby
nova wrote:
Having already read it... It was pretty darn good, and I found it hard to stop reading and had to do it in one sitting. But I sure hope you ran it by an editor?
EvilHenryPaulson wrote:
Fad and done or symbolic icon of a decade of excess consumption or...
nova wrote:
Cool it, dude... next you'll be asking if sporkfed's "hott".
Yankee,
Volume 2. Who knows?
i teach part-time for an test-preparation company. this year, our number of LSAT students tripled. like usual, a bunch of 16th graders, but now, a bunch of middle-aged ex-employees. unfortunately, schools hard-up for revenue are jamming the students in, even though less than 50% of the graduates from the past three years are marginally employed. i saw that Boalt jacked up tuition $4K.
I found law school to be a pretty good investment. It matters a lot whether you like the work. Many people decide they don't like it before they finish the first semester.
TJ and The Bear wrote:
Chutes optional? Can we do bankers too?
Cool's the word, dude... next you'll be asking if sporkfed's "hott".
Oh, that would be wrong? Maybe if I try hawt?
well there went some perfectly good 2005 tempranillo out my nostrils..... lol
Hey, 1st editions are an investment.
Blackhalo wrote:
Let's add all the Congresscritters who voted for TARP, just for old time's sake.
nova wrote:
Urban Dictionary: hawt
Basel Too wrote:
That is the problem. The field--at least in my general region--is losing work and contracting. Clients are only moving to new firms--as opposed to following a lawyer to a new firm--if the old one got bad enough and referrals are following the clients--more so than ever. Fewer clients or more consolidated clients means trouble for the existing firms and more lawyers is meaning trouble for everyone whose name isn't on the shingle or letterhead. Some of the smaller firms (>4 partners) are shedding staff and associates to make the ends meet which means partners doing the typing, copies, answering calls, and errand running.
.
In my particular field of Lawyerly Goodness (tm), more lawyers are sending out letters for mediation work--which for the Family Law field means you are starving. More mediators means the existing mediator bunch is seeing their hourly rates drop. Fun times ahead that I don't think the law class of 2013 (?) either don't see or are so scared of the Now that they are forcefully ignorant of the Future.
"When, Pavel?"
I knew of people who had apartments with balconies on Kalinin Prospekt who had a grandstand seat for a shooting, and had to duck flying bullets.
Whenever I see military-scale weapons in a civilian context it feels as if control is being added because something else is out of control.
albrt wrote:
Wusses.
Yup, a chain reaction of people driving down wages across the board as people shift into something else.
Wasn't hard to predict.
adornosghost (profile) wrote (in reply to...) on Wed, 11/18/2009 - 7:32 pm
* reply
* Ignore user
sporkfed wrote:
A Mexican soldier with an automatic rifle on the dock
There were armed Coast Guard on the Ferry from Larkspur to SF the other day.
A first.
Rather have the summer jazz band floating concert with the open bar.
The number of LSATs taken in 2009 set a new record. University of California law schools released proposed tuition amounts for the next 3 years.
It's not pretty. I halfway expect a huge dropout rate in 2011 or so. Reality will catch up with these people. Or the money will run out.
Externalized Costs wrote:
Actually predators don't drop the missiles, they just take pictures. The well named Reapers are the ones with weapons. Funny how you don't hear the name Reaper in the press.
pavel.chichikov wrote:
Bingo. I agree. When I see police with military grade hardware it always gives me pause.
Chicago Dude wrote:
Don't tease me with the idea of Higher Ed.
bursting!! Must... prevent... nerd... rage... 
.
On a serious note, I know I'm not suppose to hate the player, and when it comes to professional degrees, I'm not really that upset that the tuition is so high--I am for undergraduate programs. It is just setting the entire system up for failure, and I don't think the 3rd-6th tier schools know that their values will crash hard once it becomes apparent that you don't go to those schools unless you have a place waiting for you. Or, you don't mind showing up at the county courthouse with briefcase and business cards in tow and you just hand them out to whoever needs a lawyer...
Funny how you don't hear the name Reaper in the press.
If we do it will be changed to DoveMaster, Concilliator, or Freedom ship.
nova, are you publishing through booksurge?
Totally OT: how is this not another ponzi scheme?
Small Business ESOPs: Giving Employees a Share - WSJ.com
Basel Too,
No createspace. It is Amazon in disguise.
Am I the only one here who's grateful for family law and divorce lawyers? Sure, the unsavory reputation stereotypes are deserved, but I shudder to think what would take place WITHOUT the legal framework in such hot-tempered issues that seem to truly bring out the worst qualities of the ape within.
albrt
it's not that law school is useless, or these people are stupid and/or lazy
it's that as a group they can't achieve the same salaries because of an increase in supply. I haven't looked for the numbers yet in Canada, but I feel confident in saying that the number of graduates has grown very fast for about a decade. firms are unwillingly switching to flat fees from billable minutes bit by bit. partners' investments have done terrible, and they want to stay in longer.
even before the bust, they were hiring more paralegals and fewer lawyers. now they hire fewer interns. non-profit legal advocacies are overwhelmed with free labor. only a matter of time before a 1-800-lawyer service takes off
oh, and lawyers are starting up their own small boutique firms and taking their lucrative client list with them. better hours, less politics, spending time on the type of work they care about, and intangibles make it worthwhile
DOs and DON'Ts - Vice Magazine
Electronic filing will also help. Still have to be admitted to the bar and the circuit I think
MQ-1 Predator - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The General Atomics MQ-1 Predator is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) which the United States Air Force describes as a MALE (medium-altitude, long-endurance) UAV system. It can serve in a reconnaissance role and fire two AGM-114 Hellfire missiles. The aircraft, in use since 1995, has seen combat over Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bosnia, Serbia, Iraq, and Yemen.
The Predator was designed for recon but has been adapted for attack. The Reaper (aka Predator B) is a purpose-designed hunter-killer.
MQ-9 Reaper - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
ResistanceIsFeudal wrote:
I
them. Granted, I'm biased. 
.
I love the craziness. I love the raunchiness. I love the shear... err... humanity of it as opposed to more scientific and refined professions like Economics.
nova wrote:
And kill the runner/filing services and raise the UE.
.
America: We Keep Getting More Productive So Don't Stop Running!
unemployed bike couriers would have some important place in a revolution
nova
can you publish as Nova and remain completely anonymous?
I almost never see bike couriers anymore. They disapeared early on. Maybe 2 years ago.
yagij - That follows
But I shudder to think about the Wild West it would be in those areas without The Law.
EvilHenryPaulson wrote:
The Night Time Ride of Joe "Six Pack" Revere!
yagij wrote:
And when will we see your book?
Is The S&P Cash Horde Simply An Indication Of CapEx Underinvestment And Overleverage? | zero hedge
I don't know any Kanji, but I felt like I just read a Japanese article
A good friend told me how to fix things...
1 - Anyone who can't pay their debts must go to court and create a list of all people who they owe
2 - That person goes to prison and stay there until each person they owe removes their name from the list
3 - Once all the names are removed, the person goes free
Easy, Peasy...
nova
can you publish as Nova and remain completely anonymous?
If you wanted to expend some money and effort - yes I think so. It won't be hard to figure out my name on this book as I don't care that much.
EvilHenryPaulson wrote:
BINGO! I'm in that kind of slot. Small, boutique (Family Law in this case) firm that gives the better hours, less politics--sadly, not the spending time on the type of work part but 2 out of 3 ain't bad! The dinosaur monoliths are the first wave going because of fixed costs and set expectations. The one-stop-shop law firm is joining them. The "small mammals" of the world are the scrappier and savvier survivors if there are any left.
JP wrote:
Sadly never due to Attorney/Client privilege stuff (mostly). I could change the names, but then even people without my region could probably figure out the players involved.
.
Granted, that father/son (from first marriage) having a threesome on video with Dad's trophy 2nd wife was something they don't prepare you for in law school. Good billing that one!
longwaver wrote:
Snark or No Snark?
bike couriers never had it good to begin with, so they have those learned urban survival skills
they can get around without fuel, dodge any street barricades
they have a resilient communication network (walkie talkie, cellphone, word of mouth)
they know the streets as good as anyone
they aren't exactly passive or tame to generalize, probably why they took the work up
they're like modern cavalry/officers
oops, createspace is what i meant; amazon merged booksurge into createspace recently. i remember reading about a company that would sell publish public domain works using createspace/booksurge. things like large print versions, books printed in landscape, or if somebody wanted a bound copy of the Title 12 of the US Code. they'd offer the content first, but wouldn't go through the hassle of creating the pdfs until a book was actually ordered. interesting concept.
this just in - how is this as a headline from the local paper's food editor. This was a cool shop if you liked to eat high end organic and natural foods. Guilderland is a nice suburb. For the area it is pretty upscale.
Read more: Stuyvesant Plaza gourmet shop closes -- Page 1 -- Times Union - Albany NY
yagij wrote:
No snark... that's how it works in certain places. Your family has to work off the debt if they care enough to get you out of prison. Keeps EVERYONE from doing stupid things.
Basel Too,
Yeah. It will help kill agents and publishing houses eventually I think.
Still all over the place and riding around with a death wish out here. They go all winter long too. If you have something to send across the Loop, they are still the absolute fastest and cheapest method.
longwaver wrote:
If it worked, those "certain places" wouldn't have those kinds of places still around. If you would like, I'm sure someone here can point you towards the reference books that explain why we did away with debtor's prison. It is probably near the reference books on the abolition of slavery (besides the US reason)
Basel Too wrote:
Did you read where Google is going to start offering every published opinion on its Scholar website? Lexis-Nexis/Westlaw/Loislaw killer in the works for the bare-bones research needs?
Did you read where Google is going to start offering every published opinion on its Scholar website? Lexis-Nexis/Westlaw/Loislaw killer in the works for the bare-bones research needs?
I saw that and thought the same thing. Probably why they don't give their Citechecker and Table of Authorities software away free anymore.
nova wrote:
Make it 3 sales. I added a review - they say it takes up to 48 hrs for the review to post. I said you were a literary god and anyone who didn't run out and buy the book immediately was a born and bred American dope.
nova wrote:
Honestly for what we need, we would easily ax our law software of choice in a heart-beat if all we had to do was look at Google ads. All we need is pull cited cases and make sure we have up-to-date annotated codes for our particular SE US state. Why drop 130+ USD/month if you can use Google to do it, and I don't see any reason sans poor management on Google's part to be able to do it.
Mike in Long Island wrote:
lmao! tho it might be lost on the undereducated amazonians.
Deflationary Jane wrote:
Jane- I have made a vow to drink just Spanish and Italian wines for a while, and I am really starting to appreciate the tempranillo.
Your job is more interesting than mine.
yagij wrote:
Won't take much now to turn that into an AI.
check out Shazam.
About Shazam
Shazam can identify music better and faster than any person could ever do.
Imagine a Legal Shazam.
I got a ton of calls today, close to twenty.
Most are junk I don't want in places I don't want to be but there were four solid gigs.
Things are definitely different now in the marginal areas.
Off to eat some beef ribs and play pool.
Thank you Mike.
congratulations nova
I'll have to get a copy before it becomes a collectors item
i saw that, and it'll help with basic retrieval, but the key features of the electronic legal database are hyperlinking the internal references and the modified regex searching.
Vonbek777 wrote:
I was in Belgium for New Years, during the 2000 Euro change over/WTO protests, and cops with submachine guns, kind of threw me off a bit. Razor wire around all the embassies and EU HQ. Kind of out of place from all of my previous experience.
You meant "literary glod", right?
That welfare is the one the knee-jerko cons here don't wish to discuss.
JP wrote:
Definitely more "interesting" in the context of a safe, desk environment. Seriously where else do you have to read about a person's problem with "painful anal insertions" and have to be able to deal with them on a daily basis like nothing is wrong?
Basel Too wrote:
Right. I agree that in the beginning that it may be too basic for power searching, but you are talking about Google here. regex searching is their bread-and-butter. Once they start adding the hyperlinking between opinions, statutes...
Good riddance to the legal info duopoly.
if I were an Indian outsourcing firm, I would be phoning Google twice a day to offer some kind of interconnected service where you could pay them in micropayments to run the searches and return the summaries as a value-added kind of thing
longwaver wrote:
Like all bad ideas,
Punishing the borrower? A solution, only a lender could love. Who pays the 40-80K it costs per year to keep someone incarcerated? Would it not be better to just give them an F'n job and garnish a portion of the wages?
People mid-career are going to have a very tough time once they graduate from law school. I have friends who did that over 10 years ago. It was TOUGH going back to being so low on the pole and having to slave away to get those high billables. Instead, they all tried to flee to corporations where they had a job where they thought they had more status and less onerous days.
The fact is, I predict that there will be more and more do-it-yourself law. It will be much less expensive and with the internet, things can be a little personalized.
If healthcare reform is to truly try to cut expenses, we need to eliminate the crazy, needless lawsuits. That will eliminate a lot of the ambulance chasers.
Not right now, but in the near future, I see a declining need for lawyers. Conversely, I see a greater need for doctors due to the advancing demographics. But because of declining revenues and the overall dissatisfaction in the industry, people would rather go to law school.
12th Percentile wrote:
If you haven't read "the road", you should, based on what you are writing.
I'll second that, 12th Percentile, but then my book is on McCarthy, so I'm prejudiced.
broward wrote:
It's coming, broward, and it can't come soon enough.
I've been in corporate finance with a F500 company for a few years now - sitting down the hall from and working closely with our corporate legal group.
The bill padding in corporate law for the most routine, mundane activities - words fail me. "Astonishing" doesn't even come close to cutting it. It's an eye-watering degree of chutzpah that makes McKinsey's and Accenture's partners look like a bunch of bumbling amateurs.
If I were able to do the work of the bottom 80% of the legal profession from my iPhone tomorrow it would be a day too late for my tastes.
longwaver wrote:
Except lenders...
squirrel legs, front or rear, amount depends upon how hungry you are
~ beer
~ garlic powder
~ pepper
~ salt
~ minced onion
~ hickory smoked bacon
Soak the legs in beer for 2 – 3 hours. Remove and drain.
Sprinkle to taste with garlic powder, pepper, salt and the minced onion.
Wrap each leg with bacon. Secure with toothpicks if necessary.
Place on hot grill. Cook over medium heat until cooked through.
Serve with your favorite sides.
Enjoy.
as the issue to whether states own copyright in their laws and judicial decisions hasn't been fully resolved, Google may not be able to add hyperlinks to the state court decisions without consent, as it goes beyond the bounds of "search" and into "publishing."
you think we'll ever see the adoption of medical or legal systems where doctors and lawyers respectively can specialize from day 1?
eg: someone who wants to do family law, let them skip intellectual property and criminal law to minimize the education cost / maximize productivity
way OT and just a report from how things are in this out-of-the-way county in New Mexico (Catron). The County Commisioners (only governing body here) have decided they are going to sue any property owner who hasn't paid their garbage tax. Higher taxes, coming to a theater near you very soon.
Yankee wrote:
Sadly I don't foresee that kind of future for anything significant (e.g. real assets and liabilities). If you have everyone practicing Law with the structures and procedures in place, you will have even a more cluttered and increasingly less useful system. If you don't believe me, spend a day in a city's Juvenile Court, Housing Court, Domestic Violence Court, etc and see what a mass of humanity really truly is in the 1st World nation.
.
Srsly.
Small Business, Key to Recovery, Is Still Hurting - TIME
This guy gets this part correctly (unlike the administration)...
William Dunkelberg, chief economist with the NFIB, says it's all about consumer spending, not credit. "The biggest problem is there's no sales — that's the real killer here," he says. Only 4% of those surveyed [by the NFIB] named credit as the problem. "Capital-spending plans are at 35-year lows and inventory-investment plans are at 35-year lows. They're just not borrowing — they're not asking for it," he says.
But then blows it here, not realizing the change in consumer balance sheets (not to mention attitudes) is permanent...
Dunkelberg believes the U.S. government needs to focus on ways to increase consumer spending and, therefore, demand for products. He'd like to see the government suspend the FICA (or social security) withholding tax and extend the Bush tax cuts that are slated to sunset within the next two years.
WOW
you guys weren't kidding about the aisles at walmart
EvilHenryPaulson wrote:
Off the cuff: No. There is a reason--however painful--that there are basics like Civil Procedure in (American) law schools. Also having lawyers "declare" a specialty from Day One would be just as helpful as making Freshmen in University declare their majors. I know very few lawyers who are practicing in the field that they chose in law school--sans the IP/Patent folks. For the world I know, it has more to where they found the right mentor, book of business, or firm and they just kinda fell into that area of The Law (tm).
2 lb Fresh
; cleaned
while mixture is still boiling. Cook for another 3-4 minutes. Stir occasionally. Transfer cooked 
to a serving platter. Serve immediately.
3 ea Cloves garlic; minced
2 tb Vinegar
1 tb Light soy sauce
1 tb Water
Salt and pepper to taste
In a skillet over medium heat, bring ro a boil the garlic, vinegar, soy sayce, water, salt and pepper to taste. Add the cleaned
If the median income is about $55k, then the median house is $165k. Prices are dropping at about 2%/mo, so the $8500 of MY MONEY will evaporate in less than two months.
Thanks.
12th percentile- I was away from the computer.
Reaper drone is an apt descriptor. The predator drone started out as a reconnaissance tool that morphed to an offensive weapon when somebody sitting in a room watching a target thought it would be nice if they could reach out and say hello. Adding two hellfires was the next step. Proved so effective they decided building a drone as a weapons platform was a great idea, The Reaper was born. Remote control warfare, like playing a video game.
Good pic of the predator drone with hellfires at link.
MQ-1 Predator - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
....what the Hell is wrong with some? Looking at small business today, it seems as if they have just lost "the edge". The drive to compete and work hard for every dime. If they can't clear 30% they won't be bothered.
Is there an echo in here?
Ooops. Missed your earlier link to the all knowing wiki.
The other disturbing trend in remote surveillance is the use of surveillance blimps here in the states. Noticed one at a big official event.
Be an interesting world if they can make this work:
Air Force Bugbots
Micro Air Vehicle (MAVs) buglike drones
Air Force Bugbots
yagij wrote:
Did I mention something about Google killing a phenomenal number of business models, mine included(not a publisher)?