bostonbubble.com

[john p]

[Boston ITer]

John, the car metaphor doesn't work.

A car is a relatively cheap tool, esp in comparison to a home. A 1995 Toyota Corolla costed $13K. Today, that car is $16K, big deal. Fifteen years ago, I could afford to buy one and today, it would barely make a dent in my overall savings plan. Between 15 year cycles, I'd spend some $200-300 per year averaging out the costs of oil changes, brake pads, tires, and the once in a while starter or alternator going out. And even at year number 15, it's residual value is still some ~$1.4K because some poor student still needs to get a car to get from point A to point B. Likewise, one can buy a used bigger car, like an SUV, with a private warranty for just about the same price.

The difference between $400K (the extreme high end asking price for Houston) and $650K (the general metro Boston ask price), is a whopping $250K. Thus, you're comparing a futures market contract (with margin) vs a low cost utilitarian vehicle which can be paid for by cash upfront. Most persons have money for the latter.

[Renting in Mass]

I would say that 90 percent of people who are heavily in debt and feel victimized and want a handout are Republicans. This is my view based on people I read and speak with (take it with a grain of salt).

[john p]

DAMMM!!!!

The Toyota Corrola argument wins, shit that is checkmate... I could have bought a Corrola and it would last another 125k miles.

What is the Toyota Corrola version in the housing market? I don't think there is one. The Corrola is like a new starter vehicle that you can get a lot of miles out of. The Corrolas that are available have a ton of miles on them and need lots of maintenance.

You say that the Corrola is in Texas. You're right... I bought a BMW instead of an American made car because I felt that the American Automakers didn't give a shit about my generation. They gave prior generations Mustangs, Road Runners, Corvettes, Chargers, etc. that were affordable for prior younger generations and they gave my generation the Neon and the K-Car and the Focus. Screw them, I wasn't going to pay good money for a piece of shit. The Corrola was a boring A to B car but at least it ran...

Renting:

If you honestly think that 90 Percent of people heavily in debt and feel victimized and want a handout are REPUBLICANS, you are either a liar or an idiot. I'm sorry to be harsh but you're not being honest buddy. You're trying to be an intellectually smug because you think you're more sophisticated than me. That is most likely true, but I am honest and I know for sure right now that you're not. The Democrats have had three of the last State House Speakers resign in shame. Ever heard of the Cornhusker Kickback, the Louisiana Purchase, etc.? Krugman wants a bigger Bailout. It was the House Republicans who fought the Stimulus Bill. Ever heard of the Tea Party Movement? I doubt there is one Harvard Graduate in the Tea Party Movement. They are unsophisticated people who most likely are also in financial trouble and they DON'T want a bailout. They don't want to borrow money from China and have our children pay it back. They are the last of the Mohicans in believing the basic values that built this Nation. And what do the Liberals do? They rag on them like they are dumb hicks. These sophisticated elites, guys like Harvard's Summers who invent derivatives that blow up and loses $Billions from Harvards Endowment is a genius and the dumb hick Teaparty Guy who wants to pay his own bills and not have to pay his neighbors bills is an idiot. Renting, I bet you like Bill Maher and Joan Beher, that lady on the View who both thought it was ok for people to make fun of Sarah Palin's special needs child. Real class acts. They are liberal smug assholes who make fun of people if they are religious like they are old world idiots.

Name one problem that Obama has ever solved without taking out the Nation's Credit Card? Name one. Chicago was as corrupt and polluted after Obama left as before. He came to power by the funding of the worst poverty pimps most likely in American History, Tony Rezko. History will prove that you are totally wrong and I am right. You'll see.

What are you guys going to do when they start to talk about taxing 401k's or significantly changing the mortgage tax deduction or taxes on dividends or all the investment vehicles that you think will get you your nest eggs?

The worst part is that you think I'm a jerk, but in time, you'll realize that I actually tried to get you to square up to the reality that government interaction is a real threat to your delayed gratification strategy. You most likely love Deval Patrick, but Patrick told you that he'd lower your property taxes. If you listened to this liar and planned on him being honest you would be fooled, but you can't square up to that so you have to make fun of me, the guy who is trying to tell you the truth. Anyone who tries to tell you the truth is your friend, and Patrick lied to you.

[john p]

Oh, Renting, do you like John Edwards, the Democrat who cheated on his wife who had cancer? A super smart guy like Edwards can rationalize his lightweight zero behavior and sell it to intellectuals like you. Thankfully, there are people who don't fall for bullshit like me. He would have faced a buzz saw of self righteousness but would have waltzed right over a spineless intellectual ass.

[Kaidran]

John, I think you need to calm down. You seem rather rabid in your hatered of "liberals". I dont know if we are talking about local or national politics, and I'm not even sure what "liberals" actually means anymore. I hardly think that the Democrats have a monopoly on ethics problems, though the Dem problems, eg Edwards, Clinton dont really have any effect on me. I am less interested in who they are sleeping with and more interested about who is buying them off. In that respect Republican problems massively outweigh Dems, at least the did when they had anything but obstructionist power.

I do not know the Mass gov very well but nationally the budget problems are really, really easy to solve there are only two programs big enough to make a difference: the military and social security. You can complain about assholes that rigged the retirement system and absolutely shut that down but expecting that to actually make a significant difference to anything but a town budget it silly. So which is it John? Cut the military or cut social security? Thats the question I really want to tea party people to answer.

[GenXer]

Neither. Cut the state and city government. But first, cut their pensions. And yes, cut teachers, police and fire. You don't need 4 chiefs making 200k a year each to run a fire department. Get rid of the unions. The only way to get rid of government waste is to get rid of most of the government. A pretty simple libertarian approach.

[Renting in Mass]

[Kaidran]

I cannot help but think that a libertarian is just a white collar anarchist. Or perhaps someone that has not seen the down side of anarchy first hand.

The pensions seem unsustainable from what I have seen so that will get cut one way or another. Certainly for fire depts where there is no shortage of applicants it seems ridiculous to pay so much. Teachers I would disagree since it seems competent people seem in such short supply. I would definitely cut the tenure system but that is a whole other discussion.

I still only see people saying that the cuts need to come from other peoples entitlements. These entitlements were bargained in lieu of salary even if it does not make sense in todays dollars.

Again I'm no expert on Mass. but federally you only have the big two SS and military to choose from and ultimately it will come down to that choice.

[john p]

I am absolutely acting like I am off my medication. This is partly because the pendulum has swung so far left and the far left are controlling policy and I really want people to have their eyes open as to what this will mean. Deval Patrick, our Governor had the same campaign manager, David Axelrod and Patrick's campaign was a test balloon for Obama. Patrick said "Together We Can", and Obama said "Yes We Can". Patrick promised all this and that and none of it came true and he hired too many people and we didn't get the medicine we needed like Pension reform etc. Massachusetts Health Care under Romney is bankrupting our State (this is coming from a Democrat who is our Treasurer, Tim Cahill). Living in Massachusetts under Patrick is like being able to see the future of Obama. New Jersey which was one of the bluest states just had to say Uncle with their gross Democratic Spending Sprees and voted in a Republican Governor. At a certain point, even left wingers get the point that you can't keep spending and spending and spending and telling people that they are entitled a free lunch, it just doesn't work.

As far as cutting the Military.... During the Presidential Debates the moderator said to both Obama and McCain, you both talk about cutting spending but what would you specifically cut? Obama said nothing and never answered the question; he talked about cutting out waste and abuse in the Medical Industry but we find out now that his Plan significantly increases spending (and we also know that the Status Quo isn't sustainable so why the hell are we increasing spending). When it was McCain's turn to answer he actually said "We can significantly cut Military Spending. An actual Republican wanting to cut waste and abuse in Military Spending. People didn't get the shock waves that ran through this industry, especially after 8 years of leaders running things that were personally invested in it. Liberals framed McCain as racist, yet McCain adopted and raised a child of color. He could have politicized this, but out of respect for his family he didn't and he took the fire of him being a racist. Further, he lost in the Primary of 2000 to Bush because they were push polling in North Carolina saying stuff like "Would you vote for McCain if you knew that he had an illegitimate child out of wedlock?" (Referring to the child he adopted). So McCain gets screwed on the left and right for complete disgusting bullshit. McCain worked with Ted Kennedy to pass legislation. He was respected by both Parties. Biden said that he would be honored to be on McCain's ticket, but somehow after Biden becomes VP, McCain becomes a bad guy. Right now, we needed a guy who would take fire from both sides to get this Health Care done. The tactics they are using to pass Health Care are unbelievable and un-American. We needed people who had the courage to stand in the middle of the road and take fire from both sides. McCain had proven that, but instead of a centrist we chose a polar left winger.

Beyond that, Obama believes in Keynes Economics which is basically when the economy is slow, the government turns on the printing press and spends. People are inflamed about this because they see this as trying to put out fire with gasoline. It is plain old dumb. That is why I am such a pain in the ass, because I think this is stupid.

I see guys like Al Gore getting Nobel Peace Prizes for saying that the sky is falling and the same liberals who believe this not doing anything significant about it. I see Democrats without any spine to act on anything. I mean if Al Gore is right and our Cities on the ocean are going to flood out, what the hell is the plan. They didn't even fix the levees in New Orleans to the strength needed to sustain the same Hurricane that flooded it. So basically they are reinvesting in the City but not building the levies up to a level which would protect them from another hurricane. I mean this is the stupidest thing ever. I mean if Al Gore is right, what the hell is he doing living in a 10,000 square foot house using 20 times the electricity of the average American household with only him and his wife and he's barely home because he's flying a private jet and creating more CO2 to tell the people that the sky is falling. Then the Green Building Council gives his 10,000 square foot house their LEED Platinum Award. And the LEED's Program is so popular that people are voting for it to be the basis of policy and government stimulus spending.

I see Renting and MPR as really smart guys but I don't see them throwing the penalty flag at the ridiculous hypocrisy and regular people need smart people to be intellectually honest and to defend them. I see Renting and MPR as much stronger and smarter than me but not being open to the possibility that they are being lied to and that other people need their skills to throw the penalty flag and to keep the eggheads honest.

I was out on the street looking for real estate in 2005 and the only egghead out there was Robert Shiller and Mark Zandi. They made Mark Zandi out to be a flake like a sky is falling idiot. I was there and I read all the eggheads ragging on Zandi like he was a fringe idiot during the Bubble. Harvard was not there when people needed them. The eggheads were out to lunch. The Tea Party Movement is about regular people understanding that the people in power are either out to loot them or they are spineless intellectual delusional bystanders in puppy love with their elite rock star Obama.

People really need guys like MPR and Renting not guys like me. My job is to get them to engage.

[john p]

Another point to McCain's character, he actually defended John Kerry from the Swiftboat attacks in an election year (2004). He stood up to defend someone on the other side of the aisle because honor was above politics.

When the tables were turned Kerry didn't show the same honor to McCain. Kerry chose a lightweight to be his VP Candidate which is why we had another 4 years of Bush. That lightweight kept Kerry from being President and if the New York Times, who had the story of him cheating on his wife with Cancer prior to Super Tuesday had ran the story we would have President Hillary Clinton becaue Edwards ate into Clinton's base.

We need honor and integrity now. When a person has a choice to "take it like a champ" or to join in on the looting of a Government of the People, the only appeal is to people's sense of integrity as thin as that may be. And when people see the Cornhusker Kickback and all that, it erodes that moral fiber and we need that safety net to be strong to hold all the people that really need the resources. I love and care for the poor people but we won't have any resources to help them if everyone is looting the system. McCain was tortured and refused to be released from a prison camp before others who's turn came up. He not only took a bite out of the shit sandwich for his Nation, he lost the full use of his arm and had the absolute shit beat out of him. We need people to be tough right now and he embodied that.

[Kaidran]

Two points, first McCain, though by all accounts a great guy, is hardly a representative republican, wasn't he running as a Maverick(TM) and faced a lot of challenges within his own party? Second I would not believe anything any politician said on the campaign trail ever, only what they do once they get there. Obama is a big disappointment to me but mainly because of his financial policy and retention of insiders.

The voting trick to getting healthcare passed is a trick mainly used by republicans in the past. This actually the first glimpse of a spine the Dems have shown in a while. Anyone remember how the filibuster was an outrageous misuse of procedure 4 years ago but is now a legitimate embodiment of checks and balances?

As far as I can see

Democrat = spineless, ineffective, panderer
Republican = Lying, selfish, hypocrite

[balor123]