Whats a job?

They just need ?

lawyerliz tells us of many bando brothers in Flatlantis living in their homes that haven't make a mortgage payment in a few years, as experts agree that free money is the best kind.

What sort of moral hazard are we setting up, where it's ok to not pay your bills and get away with it scott-free?

It's a slippery slope...

Well, at least we can finally stop our endless bickering about whether or not this recovery will be employment-led.

A Raring Recovery - Forbes.com

Don't shout at me - I'm only posting it.

The low turnover rate is another indicator of a very weak labor market.

Work it if you got it.

Is the MSM still running those inspirational stories about high fliers quitting their remunerative jobs to do what they really love?

Well, I'm doing that, but it was, er, a forced choice in spite of myself!

You all should get to work and make things cheaply so I can consume them. I don't want to have to pay shipping from China. Get in that sweat shop. No organizing on company time. You're fired, you red. And your name is going to the FBI. I own this factory. Together with . You don't want the work? A Mexican will do it for bananas.

The concept of wealth and money will be subsumed by a greater understanding.

YouTube - Fractured Fairy Tales The Golden Goose

1 currency now -yogi wrote:

A Mexican will do it for bananas.

Not in 'merica, they won't. In Mexico, probably.
.
Winston wrote:

It's the dawning of the Age of Aquarius. The ultimate boomer paradise of wealth without responsibility.

After the Valdez, mountaintop mining in WV, and the urban sprawl of the major metro areas, if it wasn't the Boomers enjoying wealth without responsibility, who is to blame?

The two income family and housing has made this situation worse than it would be if people were mobile.

Nobody is going to have a spouse give up a good paying job to move to another city for work, and in many cases it doesn't make economic sense.

Housing is keeping people in place, both those under water and those fearful of moving and buying in a declining market.

There's a gas plant in Connecticut that has openings. Plus we're going to fire all the overpaid firefighters Reagan/air traffic controller style. Lowest bidder gets it.

I thought people from California can't move to California?

Now, the pressure is intensifying. Where to go to hide, find opportunity, seek fortune?

When I was 16 I looked west from Hawaii, and next thing I knew . . . .

Would not advise it now to any young person seeking a fortune-- possible exception would be for language and culture.

True enough...

But imagine the financial hurdle for somebody living in Dayton, Ohio to move here now?

1 currency now -yogi wrote:

You all should get to work and make things cheaply so I can consume them.

Long ago there was a blog about a guy who outsourced his own job, and then took a second job and outsourced that one too. He was basically working as quality control over the two software guys.

It must have taken a lot of nerve to do, and even more so to blog about it. I wonder what happened to him?

A coworker makes wooden bowls and vases, really impressive stuff. Truly an artist. He can't sell the stuff and make more than minimum wage, and this isn't low end stuff. I doubt many will make things in the US until wage parity gets a little closer.
I keep thinking I need to learn some more hard skills as a hobby, and if it ends up a dying skill in the US might pay off.

Rob Dawg wrote:

What's really scary is that I still believe the recovery will be employment led.

Agreed, but our timelines don't match those of mainstream market pundits. What they measure in months, we measure in years.

Question of the day, what happened in AD 777?

End the Fed, to start with. What good is a minimum wage if the Fed just multiplies the bonuses.

does the lack of jobs cause a lack of customers? or does the lack of customers cause a lack of jobs?

now you've done it....

Vonbek777 wrote:

Question of the day, what happened in AD 777?

Wikipedia doesn't know sans a Charlemagne victory.

hope this hasnt been posted.

Government Should Leave Job Creation to Private Sector - Daily Nexus

Employees are a liability in every function except government, because government is designed to lose money.

Close, Charlemagne received a plea...

Juvenal Delinquent wrote:

Somebody from upstate NY or Florida couldn't move to California presently, not possible in most cases

Sure they could. If they are renters, they can move from upstate NY to Palm Springs and save money on a cashflow basis. CA should dump those tourism commercials and try promoting domestic migration to places in the State that are warm in winter.

1 currency now -yogi wrote:

End the Fed, to start with.

one of the things you're spot on about

shill wrote:

Whats a job?

What "other" people are doing right now...

dum luk wrote:

Charlemagne defeats the Saxons; their leader Widukind flees to Denmark. Hildegard, daughter of Emperor Charlemagne is born.

ahem See my response above.

Mook wrote:

Tough to seek out better job prospects elsewhere if I've got an immovable half-million-dollar anchor tied around my ankle.

How much equity do you have? If you're underwater, that anchor isn't that heavy, unless you need to keep your nose clear for a govt. jib-

February 9, 2010

"{German exports dropped by 18.4 percent in 2009, the sharpest decline since 1950, RTE Business reported Feb. 9, citing Destatis. German exports were at 803.2 billion euro ($1.104 trillion), while imports decreased by 17.2 percent to 667.1 billion euro ($917 billion) compared to 2008, Destatis said. But Germany posted a trade surplus of 136.1 billion euro ($187 billion) for 2009; that figure was 178.3 billion euro ($245 billion) in 2008."

No mention of the airmail express letter from Spain? Pretty sure Charlemagne received that in 777?

yagij wrote:

dum luk wrote:
Charlemagne defeats the Saxons; their leader Widukind flees to Denmark. Hildegard, daughter of Emperor Charlemagne is born.
ahem See my response above.

Ahhh but who got it without teh googs? [raises hand sheepishly]

Better question; what are the repercussions that reverberate today? Law, geopolitics, religion.

Rob Dawg wrote:

Ahhh but who got it without teh googs? [raises hand sheepishly]

That is why you didn't respond. You were giving us young, dumb wimper-snappers a chance to show our resourcefulness...

But it seems to be worse in the UK:

We're living in broken Britain, say most voters - Times Online

"Nearly three fifths of voters say that they hardly recognise the country they are living in, while 42 per cent say they would emigrate if they could."

Left you a response last thread, dawg.

Keep bashing the civil service worker. We'll see what happens in Greece when they walk. The Governator can stop crime single-handedly and put out all the fires.

Just kidding... back to work Calpersons, we promise your pensions are safe. We'll just order some 's from China.

Just caught up to last thread.

I have long thought that the failed businesses and marriages is heavily skewed by people who had poor planning and shouldn't have gone into it in the first place.

At one of our older malls (not the doomed 50% empty one) a closed down jewelry store was taken over by a rug store. It's at least 100 yards from the entrance, and I can't imagine people buying a rug from a place with higher rent than the competitors, and then lugging it out of the mall. A rug would be an odd impulse buy I would think.

Blast from the wayback machine Aug 2006:
By my estimate $2.5T in MEW is unsupported by reasonable asset valuation. In total somewhere between $7T and $9T in phantom equity is exposed in any retracement to the mean. An orderly retreat will allow inflation to eat away much of this. A decline in the dollar may result in a disproportionate amount of pain to be taken by foreign investors. No matter how the pain is spread, there will be consumer pain. Likewise because of govt spending policies that resemble the proverbial cricket in summer we can expect massive deficits and even larger tax inceases. I hope everyone likes their neighbors because nobody is moving for a very long time. The new immobility class has moved in to stay.

For the S&P 500:
UP 469
DOWN 29

Pretty amazing day so far-

For the DOW:
UP 30
DOWN 0

Go out and get one of those overpaid government jobs. I have a friend who worked in finance for years, got six figures, then got laid off. Couldn't pass the test to be a math teacher. Hoocoodanode.

I was a government lawyer, at a civil service wage. I scored really high on the bar exam. My boss went to Harvard Law, got paid less than a Wall Street first year associate. Wait till the government lawyers strike.

OTC Derivatives: Is the DTCC Too Big To Fail? | zero hedge

tick...tick...tick...

Which is why I brought up Charlemagne... how did he come to power...he did receive a plea from Spain in 777...didn't invade until spring of 778 I think...you know it is said that Roland's sword Durandal was forged from Hector's sword that was forged by Vulcan himself. Funny how all that dead history is so important to those with stars upon thars...but I digress...

I know some of them (Mega Rich), made one of them from scratch, and I assure you would put their mothers in a microwave for the right price. This is a financial world war taking place behind top secret meetings that are deciding our fate while not even knowing they are out of control.
.
I can’t change this but I can do my best to protect you.

Looking at the current global situation and the Trillions upon trillions of dollars of debt the US of A has built up, I would say Jim is spot on. The entire financial system as we know it at this stage is fake.

Example, Failing banks and failing car companies running on fake dollars. No real worth behind those dollars. Again ....fake.

Oxtail wrote:

You'd expect the market to be up more given those numbers. But Its not easy being green looks like he's running out of gas.

Yes, I've been patiently waiting for something approaching +160-180, but alas, we may have seen the high of the day.

Vonbek777 wrote:

...but I digress...

No kidding.

deleted, already posted

shill wrote:

Looking at the current global situation and the Trillions upon trillions of dollars of debt the US of A has built up, I would say Jim is spot on.

Someone linked a video yesterday where the investment adviser was recommending dried beans, etc.

noob goldberg wrote:

alas, we may have seen the high of the day.

For the day, maybe, but the Greco bailout has all the makings on one heckuva pop. Moral Hazard writ large(r than bailing out failed companies).
.
I've decided that if my long positions break even (or hit -10% from their initial positions) I'm getting out again.

Explain, please-

I don't follow the tea party closely. I caught of couple of clips from Palin suggesting the TP's true course was to return to and ground the Republican party. I was suggesting those were not TP's full colors and that the connection had cost them substantial support.

State Provides Quality Ramen

In SC you do use prison labor when you are King and Queen, On the East Coast you use Nannies to wash your dogs and keep your kids, and on the West Coast.........

dum luk wrote:

I don't follow the tea party closely. I caught of couple of clips from Palin suggesting the TP's true course was to return to and ground the Republican party. I was suggesting those were not TP's full colors and that the connection had cost them substantial support.

Okay; that wasn't a slam on me then.....I linked it because there was some discussion of TP and SP last night, and seeing that their "convention", as it were, seems to have cost them support, I thought there might be some interest here...

I'm on my bandwagon again this morning noob with this one. (early morning thread) Yeah, made me cringe as well.

We've been throwing money are Wall St. for 20 years now and the employment, income and investment results have been disastrous for the majority. That much is clear to everybody, including Bernanke.

The fact that Bernanke and the Fed keep handing cash to Wall St. is very telling. Especially when one CONsiders that the destructive trends are worsening.

noob goldberg wrote:

Thank you, Nanoo! You know that's an issue close to my heart, and the following paragraph made me grit my teeth at its truthiness:
"The sad fact is that a great deal of the "reforms" imposed on the OTC markets over the past several years have done nothing to improve price transparency or lessen the monopoly market power of the OTC dealers. To the contrary, under Tim Geithner, first at the Fed of New York and now the Treasury, the thrust of US policy has been to protect and enhance the monopoly position of the OTC dealers, all the while limiting "novation" or assignment of contracts (and thus secondary market trading) and price discovery."

The real problem here is that no matter how you refine and regulate these markets, there is no way to correct the losses that have already been incurred, nor mitigate the risks that have been taken on by the buyers of these devices. All TPTB will allow is to keep the ball up in the air, and lie about the value of them that our pension funds, annuities, etc. that have purchased up until now. It all falls apart when the real prices are discovered.

The Baggers are already a force, C-Span covered the Convention. It was the independents that elected O so both parties will kiss ass if it appears The Baggers can benifit them.

yagij wrote:

God Save us if the 'baggers become a major force.
It is sad that it is the Repubos that are getting split in the process.

As it is, they'll likely be exposed as a major farce; I'd be a Libertarian if it was a serious party. The platform is good, but when you see the actual member, I get the willies. I like Star Trek too, but I wouldn't be caught dead at a convention

Don't worry about the Repubs. They'll be fine; the Dems are doing everything they can to resurrect them as a viable political party

MaryAnn wrote:

The Baggers are already a force, C-Span covered the Convention.

I heard there were 200 reported to cover 600 conventioneers

Q: Why doesn't the Fed explain why the bailouts have utterly failed to create jobs?

A: Because Wall St. destroys jobs and extracts wealth. Wall St. does NOT create wealth or add value. Adding debt faster than output is the road to ruin. Wall St. is the Fed's inflation creating and distribution arm.

Seriously. If Wall St. is so great at creating jobs, why do we need these Government "jobs" programs? The bailouts and Government Job programs are clearly at odds.

It's all a sham now.

Mr Slippery wrote:

I am probably done with mutual funds forever -- too slow. You might do better with ETFs if you feel the need to trade. Bond funds are more exposed to interest rate risk than individual bonds due to turnover.

No, I was really wanting to kinda "invest" my funds instead of "trading" them. I had hoped that I could eek out some kind of return on the bonds & currency funds and use the energy fund to provide a little more risk/reward. Instead, the energy has been getting thwapped since January 4, and my "conservative" positions are moving 0.25-0.50% per day with the volatility leaving my head spinning. Fortunately, the dividend on the conservative positions can cancel out the decline in its share price, but it will probably just going to get worse from here on out.

Cinco-X wrote:

The real problem here is that no matter how you refine and regulate these markets, there is no way to correct the losses that have already been incurred, nor mitigate the risks that have been taken on by the buyers of these devices. All TPTB will allow is to keep the ball up in the air, and lie about the value of them that our pension funds, annuities, etc. that have purchased up until now. It all falls apart when the real prices are discovered.

Agreed, and I don't pretend to think that repairing the OTC market will cure past problems. But the path to the future requires us to address opaque markets or there's no sense even trying to fix address those losses. I'm talking about repairing a crumbling foundation before rebuilding the walls and fixing the sagging roof. The current administration has pulled out a tiny little trowel and is trying to plaster over cracks in the drywall, and Timmy is right behind them, madly slopping on the paint. It's lunacy.

Jonathan wrote:

They are probably drunk. No wonder they can't recognize anything.

LOL:
http://web.me.com/tanea_london/TANEAonLINE/News-Britain_files/17-leveled.jpg
Careful with this one

Financials sinking contrary to the rest of the market... Is something blowing up?

Juvenal Delinquent wrote:

The last time 600 minutemen were in one place was at the Mustang Ranch.

If it had been held there, they might have actually attracted a real Congressman or two-

How vibrant will NYC be without Wall*Street?

It might look like Buffalo on steroids

Blackhalo wrote:

Financials sinking contrary to the rest of the market... Is something blowing up?

Probably more of a conflagration-

EDIT: BTW, only 2 of the DJIA financial companies are down, and that's only if you include GE as a financial-

Pellice wrote:

So how to get people to risk their cash again?

Transparency. [don't hold your breath]
Accountability.
Regulation.
Disintermediation. Fewer productivity sucking financial parasites.
Innovation. Review and replace outmoded practices.
Scalability. The same market opportunities regardless of size.

dum luk wrote:

spike

Yeah, what the heck just happened. I get distracted by real work for five minutes and someone skies it!

... underclass was enjoying generous UE benefits.

those UE benefits are the only thing propping up what's left of our economy.

Rob Dawg wrote:

Innovation.

Careful what you wish for; the present drama was brought to you by "innovation"

U.S. Stocks Trim Gains as Fitch Discusses U.K., Greek Deficits - Bloomberg.com

"Fitch Ratings said the U.K. needs to pledge further measures to rein in its budget deficit"

>

Maybe their health care system is not helping cut deficit.

Transparency. [don't hold your breath]
Accountability.
Regulation.
Disintermediation. Fewer productivity sucking financial parasites.
Innovation. Review and replace outmoded practices.
Scalability. The same market opportunities regardless of size.

.
Can't we get somebody on the case to be the TARDIS czar?

shill wrote:

It was him, long story short, sales were of 60% sold off all his remaining inventory and closed up shop. 30 years business and very profitable ......shocker to say the least.

If you think about it, it' really tough for the little guys to compete with Jordan's, Bernie and Phyll's, and Bob's. Unless you have a really unique niche, it's likely you won't last in the furniture biz....

Locally owned piano and organ retailer going out of business after 10 years. Who would have ever seen that one coming??

Rob Dawg wrote:

Disintermediation. Fewer productivity sucking financial parasites

The only way that happens is if 401Ks are "forcibly" converted to bonds and remain that way. It's possible by taking away the income shelter and employer contribution for all investments but bonds.

This otta rankle a few feathers:

Debunking the Austrian Theory of Gold -- Seeking Alpha

Talked to a friend yesterday that's been in the collectables biz for about 35 years, and he's about ready to quit. He told me business is so slow, he's happy to break even on things or take a loss, just to see them go away. He's been selling on eBay for about a decade, and his sales are about 15-20% of what they were 5 years ago...

1 currency now -yogi wrote:

Shitty bank left for South Dakota long ago.

Some corporate shell, maybe.

I think there's still an employee or two in Manhattan.

From Percentage Of Oversold Stocks Climbs - MarketBeat - WSJ

305 stocks, or 61% of the index, are oversold — highest percentage since March, with only 25 overbought. And nine of the 25 names are consumer discretionary, “so the market seems to be giving the consumer a lot more credit today than it was a year ago,”

The question to ask is, where's the catch and what's the cost of buying this? It's likely better for a municipality to just issue fixed rate debt and not be concerned with thoughts of "what if interest rates go down?"

Juvenal Delinquent wrote:

Talked to a friend yesterday that's been in the collectables biz for about 35 years, and he's about ready to quit. He told me business is so slow, he's happy to break even on things or take a loss, just to see them go away. He's been selling on eBay for about a decade, and his sales are about 15-20% of what they were 5 years ago...

On the other hand, if you're in this biz and you've got cash on hand, it's a great buying op-

Political class is getting inventive.

Plan to pay students for early graduation to be pitched today « Idaho Reporter

Of course if you care about your kids education and can afford a private school you'll keep them in school. Public education doesn't need all those courses, cut a few math and science classes for the accelerated education plan. Sheesh, most 16 year olds are more than ready for college. Graduate two years early and you have $4000 already banked, that'll pay for the first semester at BSU. The first semester will be spent taking the classes you cut from the curriculum to graduate early but why sweat the details.

Everything has gone even more ! Gold, Oil, stocks, silver, all of it.......except the dollar today. Ouch!

tncubsfan wrote:

Market went straight up

Somebody see a buying opportunity?
CITIGROUP INC Share Price Chart | C - Yahoo! Finance

BTW: there were across the board rises, but Citi was high volume-

dum luk wrote:

From Percentage Of Oversold Stocks Climbs - MarketBeat - WSJ

i saw this last night from my own analysis software. perhaps we'll get a bounce, here.

Collectables raced up in value the past 20 years...

Something that was worth $250 is now 'worth' $1000, but can be had for $850.

That doesn't appear to represent good value, and the downside has a long way to go.

Did the QEII get launched or something?

Juvenal Delinquent wrote:

Something that was worth $250 is now 'worth' $1000, but can be had for $850.
That doesn't appear to represent good value, and the downside has a long way to go.

A fool and his money are soon parted; one obviously want to buy from distressed buyers, and they'll be more and more of those. Patience....

Eric wrote:

SUPER Its not easy being green!!!!!!!111!!

Do you smell what the Deutsch are cookin'?! (From ZH):

11:35 02/09 RTRS:GERMAN GOVT SOURCES:EMU IN PRINCIPLE READY TO HELP GREECE
11:36 02/09 RTRS:GERMAN SOURCES:CBANKS,GOVTS NOW STUDYING SUPPORT SCHEMES
11:37 02/09 RTRS:GERMAN SOURCES:AS YET NO DECISION ON CONCRETE AID MEASURS

Yeah, I'd rather collect some shiny metal or sports memorabilia than see a play.

Ouch! With the CRE situation, it's no wonder he's in trouble. He had to compete with BK auctions as well as his retail competitors.

Spot on.

All of these stories should be a lesson to the younger crowd. There are many things to learn, but one is live below your means and expect your means to decrease unexpectedly one day, possibly never to return.

It really doesn't matter if you own your business or work for somebody else, the same can happen either way. Being good and working hard is no guarantee.

No truer words spoke here folks.....+1000

Eric wrote:

SUPER

U.S. Stocks Gain as Commodity Producers, Coca-Cola Shares Rise - Bloomberg.com
Bloomberg.com:
Personal Finance

Virtually no collectable is a need, they are all wants.

Get rid of them while you can...

noob goldberg wrote:

...buy on the rumour....

CNNMoney.com Market Report - Feb. 9, 2010

Eric wrote:

I love the jewelry ads that assure you your purchase "will appraise for double!".

Looking back to last night's conversation, will a girl be satisfied getting jewelry that is worth 2 months' wages at Wal^Mart?
.
Will cubic zirconium become the new girl's "best friend'?

daddyo wrote:

From the last thread, someone looking for an explanation of a ZEBRA. Basically, if a Muni issued a floating rate bond, say 3-Month Libor (for simplicity here), they are exposed to changes in the 3M LIBOR rate. They enter into a swap, whereby they receive 3M Libor from the swap counterparty, and pay a fixed rate, say 2%. They can now structure their budgets around the 2% interest rate.
The question you would ask is, why not just create a fixed rate bond in the first place? Investor demand may have been for floating rate paper that month. They may have issued it years ago when fixed rates were higher, and want to lock in low rates today. Lots of reasons actually.
There is nothing inherently wrong with a swap like this.

They can now structure their budgets around the 2% interest rate. Well, they can structure their payments, but not their income.
It still reads to me like you are paying a fixed rate to a bank to get.....what you were going to get anyway. How does that make sense.
(but thanks for trying)
edit...lightbulb over head....see below

So, that's what's going to keep the Big Apple going, plays?

noob goldberg wrote:

yagij wrote:

11:35 02/09 RTRS:GERMAN GOVT SOURCES:EMU IN PRINCIPLE READY TO HELP GREECE
11:36 02/09 RTRS:GERMAN SOURCES:CBANKS,GOVTS NOW STUDYING SUPPORT SCHEMES
11:37 02/09 RTRS:GERMAN SOURCES:AS YET NO DECISION ON CONCRETE AID MEASURS

...buy on the rumour....

Lesson to learn: Never play chicken with Greeks - their chickens are on steroids.

Maybe Trish Reagan can be Sarah's running mate! We'd get twice the sweater-puppy power AND double-mint dumb.

Cinco-X wrote:

All true, but is underwater really the right metaphor for the dust bowl era?

Touche!

When our society is studied in a 1000 years they will probably surmise that we worshiped small figurines, model cars and some pointy eared being with a blue uniform.

Ciao
MS

Bank of Scotland Ireland

RT… Business: BoSI shutting Halifax, 750 jobs to go

They can now structure their budgets around the 2% interest rate. Well, they can structure their payments, but not their income.
It still reads to me like you are paying a fixed rate to a bank to get.....what you were going to get anyway. How does that make sense.
(but thanks for trying)

At least one side is a known though, which is helpful in long term planning. It's not a solution to anything, but it helps curtail the unknowns, even a little bit.

Depending on the rates, the swap can be structured in-the-money, out-of-the-money, or at-the-money, so the municipality can end up paying cash, receiving cash, or having no upfront payment. Standard swap settlement procedure.

I doubt we'll ever see Dow 10,000 again.

yagij wrote:

What does that kind of "crash" look like in your opinion, bro'?

I don't know.

I'm having a hard time even figuring out what's happening except that it's increasingly bizarre.

Yesterday I got a eight calls from eight different recruiters for the same poor-fitting position in Bothell, then at 3am I got an "exclusive client" e-mail for a job that I'd applied for two weeks ago, etc, etc. I suspect that Amazon's sole purpose in placing so many job ads and establishing impossible interviews is simply to justify more offshore hirings.

The same jobs go around and around and around. I was also called yesterday for a position I applied for in Oct, and previously in June, and a call FROM AT&T because I no longer bother applying TO AT&T because nothing ever happens.

dryfly wrote:

No - but makes sense. Ever been to Bismark? In February? 1. not a time or place to be homeless and 2. even though unemployment is low & employers there could use a few people - there isn't that much business in total across the whole state to take even take in a drop of the UE from elsewhere.

Try Fargo instead-

During the 30's hobos crisscrossed the nation on rails on the mere rumors of work, word of mouth, etc.

Eric wrote:

Bwahahah.... when I type "Trish Regan" into google,

Comment by Cinco-X from thread 'BLS: Few Job Openings in December'

I can see it now. City treasurer goes to IB guy

Oh, no. IB lobbies and captures City treasurer.
'Come work for us after this deal , we pay bonuses. We're the productive private enterprise sector of publicly bailed out public banks.'

today's word of the day is:

oversold

Ciao
MS

What got municipalities into trouble with the swaps was the following situation:

Rates are sitting at 5% on their issue, floating. Historically speaking, that's fairly low, so the bankers visit the municipals and say "hey, why don't we lock that 5% in with a swap, so you don't get burned if rates rise". That's a reasonable thought process if you did not foresee the end of the world coming.

So the swap contract is struck with the fixed side at 5%. When rates to go 3%, that swap is very much out of the money. The municipality is still only paying the 5% annual coupon on the swap, but the NPV of all future payments means the market value of the swap is underwater. From a cash flow standpoint, nothing has really changed, but from a mark-to-market standpoint, the municipality is sunk. If they can keep paying the 5%, they will be ok.

daddyo wrote:

At least one side is a known though, which is helpful in long term planning. It's not a solution to anything, but it helps curtail the unknowns, even a little bit.

I don't think you CAN curtail the unknowns.....you can study them, you can build on facts, but the crap shoot aspect never entirely goes away, does it.....

Interesting read......

The Golden Truth: Some Monday Observations...

dryfly wrote:

No - but makes sense. Ever been to Bismark?

Nope. Never been to ND period. Am I missing out on anything?
.
Link: N.D. has jobs but no housing

I've largely stopped applying at anything that looks remotely familiar. This morning I got an email from a Mexican surname about a company in texas for a position in Iowa that I recognized as Wells Fargo (which is actually based in CA) because I'd applied for it two months ago.

I'm starting to wonder if 1/2 the recruiters are even real now or just offshore Indians masquarading as Americans.

shill wrote:

The Golden Truth: Some Monday Observations...

Finally, I'm starting to see a lot more commentary which points out how absurd it is that the financial media in this country insists on reporting about how bad the sovereign troubles are in Europe, when in reality the situation in the U.S. is worse than in Europe, with several large States on the brink of bankruptcy. Case in point, Greece has about $408 billion of outstanding debt, of which roughly $152 billion is external. California has around $540 billion in total debt, including general obigation bonds, municipal bonds and special project/funding facilities. Add to that the $21 billion projected budget deficit for this year plus the fact that California is currently borrowing heavily from the Treasury to pay unemployment claims and essentially California is completely bankrupt.

Is CA and Greece a valid comparison? Is Greece the 7th or 9th largest economy in the world? I think not-

broward wrote:

I'm having a hard time even figuring out what's happening except that it's increasingly bizarre.

Me too. It is a weird world where people want to spoof job availability in an employer's market, but here we are.

Rob Dawg wrote:
The first waves ... well capitalized upper/middle class.
Yes! Someone to further drive up our real estate prices in bidding wars and buy up the spare Escalades the dealers can't sell here.

Cinco-X wrote:

But I saw the movie-

Its even better in 'real life'.

Don't get me wrong - for a family starting over it could work - but go in prepared - like volunteering for a Martian expedition.

1 currency now -yogi wrote:

Oh, no. IB lobbies and captures City treasurer.
'Come work for us after this deal , we pay bonuses. We're the productive private enterprise sector of publicly bailed out public banks.'

I left that part out on purpose, my friend

dryfly wrote:

This.... Miles and miles of it.

In California we don't allow fences on our white sand beaches.

Rob Dawg wrote:

In case you haven't been following I'm planning on buying distressed acreage in low property tax places and purchasing a D7 not some freakin' gangsta ride.

Do you think that one's a good deal? I'd look around some more; actually, I am looking around too-

Cinco-X wrote:

Better than the "chipper" scene! WOW! I'll pass

North Dakotans will correct you - those scenes all took place in Minnesota - they aren't anywhere NEAR that barbarous in civilized North Dakota.

Is Trish B or T's wife? Must stay with those in the know.

double inverse recession wrote:

My state school paid $1000 to students for graduating without taking more than one extra class beyond requirements

Wouldn't work for most of the colleges I have seen. They change the requirements and availability of classes so frequently it would be near impossible.

Rob Dawg wrote:
After the pig everything's fair game.
LOL... I won't track mud into the next thread..