bostonbubble.com

[mpr]

[john p]

Yeah, back when mortgage rates were in the 4's I was dying to refinance, my rate is in the 6's (ouch). The banks were citing Zillow so I would have had to paid for an appraisal, and without the right comps what were they going to say. I knew another house was on the market, (which just sold). If this sold back then I would have been all set. That was a lot of money on the table for me if that comp came in so I was pretty frustrated.

I kind of attribute this recent bump in home prices to the seasonality of the market and the fact that mortgage rates dropped at just the right time to provide affordability right at the sweet spot of the Spring Selling Season. I think you see more of the imbalance of buyers to sellers after the Spring and if you add to that the fact that mortgage rates have gone up .75 points, I see some downward pressure. I don't know many people that feel entirely secure in their jobs and I think a lot of emergency funds are being drained right now so more inventory of motivated sellers might show up.

I wonder how banks are addressing short sales? I heard a banker tell a guy selling his house to consider walking away. He said his credit would drop from a 750 to a 590 and then go back to 700 in a couple of years. Depending on the amount, this is financially the better option than losing money. I guess the banks have to approve the short sales, so in light of this bump, I wonder if banks will approve these short sales? I am always curious as to the price strata of what houses are moving and if the median is going up because we're seeing more sales in the mid to high end than last year.

Given that mortgage rates had gone from mid 6's to high 4's and now in the mid 5's, and the evaluation of my home went from the high 500's to the low 400's in a matter of a few months, it was pretty surreal and I was pretty pissed. That haywire turbulence is what a lot of investors were also bothered about, I mean how can you long term plan for anything with so much haywire? One of my favorite finance professors advised about not doing too many changes all at once, and all this new spending and signing bills for scope that represents 20% of our GDP quickly with members not reading the language is reckless and is just as reckless as the behavior that caused this bubble. Obama needs the elevation of his star power to slam dunk this and instead of building policy brick by brick and getting our hands dirty to read and iron out a bill, we're supposed to believe in superheros and throw away the whole representative form of government where all these leaders have to do actual work and study the legislation. This along with Cap and Trade, and this huge deficit along with the crumbling infrastructure really make you wonder about our future earnings and what the GDP, the deficit and the debt are going to be. If what we earn shrinks and our expenses skyrocket we're talking about real trouble, if this were a business investors would bail.

Bush and Obama aside, if a guy who makes $50k gets a colonoscopy, that costs $10k and say his stay at home wife goes in for something and their kids go for their visits, how can we pay for all that, how does this work when the bottom 50% of wager earners pay for 2% of the cost of government?

My solution would focus on four things: first use the power of the government to develop and buy equipment and software cheaper, use the power of the government to buy the prescription drugs cheaper, and last use the power of the federal government to make professional liability insurance cheaper, and help make medical schools cheaper. All of these target cutting costs without jeopardizing the level of care. If I were running things the 1017 pages in this health care bill would be a business plan of cutting costs leveraging economies of scale. This bill is so important to our economy and this superhero worship is preventing us from using our collective resources, our economy of scale to solve this.

[john p]

I always found it funny how yuppies don't want to live with regular folk, they choose these "immune towns". A lot of our problems would dissipate in Massachusetts if the wealth was spread more evenly. I think people have a lot of negative predujuces about the working class and raising their kids in a blue collar community. Here is a glimpse of a community that values more than academic and professional success and money. MPR, I totally agree that I want the doctor treating me to be an amazing professional, but the stuff in this video needs to comingle with those that are driven professionally.

Staff Sgt. Beale's Final Return Home

Killed in action the week before, the body of Staff Sergeant First Class John C. Beale was returned to Falcon Field in Peachtree City, Georgia, just south of Atlanta, on June 11, 2009. The Henry County, Georgia's Police Department escorted the procession to the funeral home in McDonough, Georgia. A simple notice in local papers indicated the road route to be taken and the approximate time.


http://blip.tv/play/AYGJ5h6YgmE

[mpr]

[john p]

Regarding Health Care:

I know this sounds stupid, but I'm designing a project and a part of the scope is furniture. Typically this is an owner furnished item so I don't have a ton of experience in the subject, but this is what I've found.

This State I'm working in has negotiated prices for certain pieces of furniture in a State Contract. So basically you don't get ten different agencies paying ten different prices for the same piece of furniture.

I would have a public register of prices administered by the State for all the supplies, medications, equipment etc. This way, if a company posted a price that was too expensive; fewer hospitals would choose to buy them forcing them to become more competitive. The Government would set the performance specifications and publicly register the contract prices for thing. I think the auto insurance industry is being regulated with these sorts of allowances.

I'm not into the single payer system; I am more into the government helping to cut costs for the items that don't get into the way of professional judgment. I mean if we can get cotton balls, q-tips, or software cheaper by posting supplier's best prices and forcing them to be more competitive that's using capitalism instead of fighting it. Let's put the socially connected fat cats out of business by making them work harder in a fairer more open competition, the American way. We need to make the nature of what is considered a specialty a commodity.

I'm not sure if I told you guy this, but my wife asked me to see a specialist regarding this chronic cough I have. The allergy specialist's charged me $1,200 for the initial visit. I told the guy to go screw and after a few back and forth we settled on $250. In retrospect, the machine that I blew into must have cost some bucks, the doctor's student loans cost bucks, and the professional liability insurance cost bucks.

If the government also offered professional liability and public defenders for the doctors it would change the perspective of "damages". Think about it, a person goes to court to sue a doctor. The jury thinks, hell it is those rich insurance companies that are going to have to pay so they stick it to the insurance companies and offer a huge damages package. If the taxpayers have to pay the damages, the jury will be less liberal about their damages awards. In the end it is the same group that pays the taxpayer. I don't like how the government wants to seize control but not want to hold the bag when the crap hits the fan. I think the government needs to step up to the plate with the professional liability if they are going to meddle with the professional performance. Let's face it, what we're talking about is overloading the system and rationing which will force doctors to make tough decisions. If the government is going to force them into a tough situation, they need to back the doctor when the mistakes do happen. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pushed the market with a socialistic agenda and when the crap hit the fan, the taxpayers were on the hook. If we go at health care the same way, we need to have a defensive strategy for the professionals who want to cover their ass by doing as much diagnostics as possible. I think the liberals want their cake and eat it. They get mad at professionals if they make a mistake after they overload them and then they grant ridiculous awards to those that get hurt by the system, which makes health care costs even more and then they complain that things cost too much.

In the end, we will have professionally accepted standard procedures for basic diagnostics and a certain degree of individual professional judgment. This should be the basis for evaluation regarding professional liability. You know the Unions have rules as to how many bricks a bricklayer can lie in a day, but there aren't any rules about how many patients a doctor has to see.

All these health care costs are going to swamp us plain and simple. Obama's total shock and awe "Change" approach is a total reshuffling of the deck because the current course was headed towards an iceberg. So far, I see us turning 360 degrees facing in the same direction except accelerating towards the iceberg. Another solution is out there, I think we need to take that $1,200 office visit and break down why it cost $1,200 and figure out a way to make that visit cost $250 and pay for the profit, overhead and professional liability.

The video I showed in the earlier post was to show that not all people in Georgia are dumb rednecks, just like all doctors aren't thieves that try to profit by having unnecessary procedures (which is what Obama pretty much said). The "tone" of Washington is to address the problems with the faith that some of your counterparts might actually mean well. I mean I used to hate Karl Rove, but when you listen to the guy and he talks about how these insanely expensive awards go to those hurt by the health care system actually make health care more expensive. The liberal mentality that the only way the insurance companies will pay attention is if you hit them in their pocketbook is flawed, they like the utility companies and all those that will have to face Cap and Trade WILL JUST PASS THE COSTS ON TO CONSUMERS. The liberal trial lawyer gets a HUGE cut of the damages so of course the trial lawyers promote liberal bleeding hearts because bleeding hearts pay more for damages and more damages means more expensive health care which means fewer people can afford health care and we become less economically competitive globally because we have to carry this load.

This is basically why we have to debate the issue. The tax implications are huge and the less people will be able to take home, the more housing prices will drop.

[WestCoastXPlant]

[john p]

People who live closer to the city tend to be faster paced. I think the "immune towns" you're talking about are tranquil places where people are still fast paced. Quiet towns close to the city are rare and command a premium price. I agree with you so far as wanting to be around pleasant people, I just chose to move bit further out where the pace is a little more tranquil.

Sometimes people misunderstand tough love. In some cities, the toughening that goes on culturally is a defense mechanism. Basically, if a loved one breaks you and then take your innocence, they will be the ones that will see you vulnerable instead of someone else who really means you real harm. It is twisted logic but being sensitive is looked down on because it teaches people that it is ok to show vulnerability. They say someone needs a little arsenic in their blood to build up immunity from being poisoned. Sometimes poor people don't allow themselves to become sensitive as a defense mechanism. To some poor, they see the world as harsh so they harden their kids because they love them and want to protect them. Kids break eachother's balls and challenge eachother to make sure that they also can handle themselves under pressure. Obviously these methods go too far when you get child abuse, neglect and gangs, but that is why they need role models and some symbol of success that can buoey their hopes and keep them from going in a downward spiral.

If you are loyal to someone who has had it hard in life, you will never know a better person to have in your corner. Underneath a lot of the toughness is goodness so the outer shell is just there to protect them from their harsher environment.

The reason why I think we need to merge the professionally successful with the old school values is that the old school method breaks you down so that you reconstruct yourself stronger. It reconstitutues yourself and toughens you and gives you the confidence of getting out of your comfort zone. The poor often don't have the vision and the rich are afraid of the hardships.