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  • Are U.S. Home Prices Reasonable?
    In 1950, the average SFR was about 983sf (square feet) and it fetched $11,000. There were 1.9MM starts that year.

    In 1972, the average SFR was about 1,634sf and it fetched $30,500. There were 1.7MM starts that year.

    In 1999, the average SFR was about 2,241sf and it fetched $87,000. There were 1.7MM starts that year as well.

    In 2007, the average SFR was about 2,320sf and it is now reported that its median price in 2008 is $181,300.

    Can you point me to your research? I cannot believe that a 2241sf house in 1999 fetched only $87,000. I paid twice that in 1995 in a geographically undesirable area. In great areas such as the coasts, houses of this size were going for $300k in 1999, not less than $100k.
    Jan 04 11:23 am |Rating: +2 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Toyota, GM, Ford: Showing Off Green Cars Amid Economic Gloom
    Oilcan, at some point, you and your comrades are going to HAVE to find a way to work with your company's management. I'm no fan of Wagoner, but as you point out, he IS the general and you and your ilk are the enlisted. It seems like the UAW "enlistees" want the authority of general without the responsibility, yet you also seem to refuse to follow ANY orders from the generals.

    If Wagoner is that bad and is just another failed leader in the line of Smith, Stempel, Smale, etc., then why work for the company? A person of principle should not work for a company if his leaders are as big of failures as the UAW continually portrays.

    On Jan 04 10:49 AM oilcan821 wrote:

    > hey rick wagoner- price the damn car where it will sell!!! a $40,000
    > car won't ever sell in this economy like a $15-20,000 car!! that's
    > how gm will turn around, and why don't you execs cut your pay down
    > where it belongs, about $125,000 base, with NO benefits, or stock
    > options, dental, eye care, hearing ect. like the loyal gm salaried
    > retirees get!!! feed the generals, starve the troops isn't what makes
    > a great company!!!!!
    Jan 04 11:03 am |Rating: +3 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Expert Commodity Picks for 2009: Jim Rogers and Marc Faber
    Why not list ELEMENTS RJI as a related stock (EFT)? That's the true place to be if you're a disciple of Jim Rogers.
    Jan 04 10:53 am |Rating: +1 -1 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Best Performance in 2008: Mattresses
    Don't buy a Sealy.

    I got screwed on one once.


    On Jan 02 09:34 AM Annualgain wrote:

    > Perhaps I should buy Sealy (ZZ) and Tempur-Pedic (TPX) since the
    > performance of mattresses is so good.
    Jan 02 13:03 pm |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • The Economic Meltdown: Dismantling, Yes; Doom, No
    There are many books on the market now by well respected conservatives that agree with you. Bush Republicans (both I and II) have bankrupted this country. I preferred Reagan, of course, and even Nixon's middle/working-class/p... form of the Republican Party to the New England-Palm Beach elite form of the Bushies. Too bady McCain paid the price for the Bushes.


    On Dec 27 03:52 PM jegan ;-) wrote:

    > Dubya and his posse converted me from a life-long Republican to a
    > Democrat. He has proved to be the worst President in my 60 year lifetime.
    > I am only sorry that San Fransisco couldn't come up with the necessary
    > 50% vote to rename the local sewer works as the 'George Bush Memorial
    > Sewer Treatment Plant'... It was close though.
    >
    > jegan
    Dec 27 18:42 pm |Rating: 0 -4 |Link to Comment |View article
  • The Economic Meltdown: Dismantling, Yes; Doom, No
    I can't believe your post has mostly negative responses.

    The debate over the moral grounds of the Iraq War is pointless, despite Bill Bennett's tireless insistence to the contrary. If we as a nation want to embark on moral endeavors, we must be able to pay for it. Our leaders have bankrupted this country, and it's folly for us to think we can maintain our role as the world's policeman while running 9 or 10 figure budget deficits.


    On Dec 27 07:09 AM Yamu wrote:

    > Whilst I support the Iraq War on a moral ground I agree with your
    > financial analysis. America's far too overstreched providing safety
    > for almost the whole globe, rather than the Middle East and Pacific
    > it should concentrate on still being the no1 influence in Latin America
    > as that's far more cost effective, not to mention that it will stop
    > pissing off Russia, China and the Arabs...
    Dec 27 18:40 pm |Rating: +1 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Bernanke's Great Lie: The Gold Standard and the Great Depression
    Good catch on the fallacy of the 20-20 test. $20 invested in dollars since 1900 would be worth a whole lot more than $20. At 4% compounded annually, the $20 doubles 6 times to $1,280 which buys a darn nice suit today. Even with taxes, it's still worth an ounce of gold today.

    On Dec 26 09:26 PM Allah wrote:

    > That's a dumb argument - a long term investment in the dollar would
    > be buying treasury bills not holding a 20 dollar bill. Investing
    > $20 in t bills for 108 years would yield enough to buy a suit as
    > well. The gold piece might buy a suit now but that's only because
    > gold is in one of its infrequent price spikes, wait a few years for
    > gold to revert to it's regression line and you'll have shop in Walmart
    > to buy anything with the gold piece.
    Dec 26 22:58 pm |Rating: +2 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • What Happened to the American Dream?
    It's real easy. We need to amend the constitution such that no more descendants of Prescott Bush can hold a position in government anywhere in the country. Bush I and Bush II administrations are responsible for, what, about $8T in debt. Even the Kennedys haven't done that much damage.
    Dec 26 01:56 am |Rating: +2 -5 |Link to Comment |View article
  • U.S. Unemployment: Is Media Hype Missing the Point?
    You are definitely correct, not out of a limb. Technology and better management methods are providing better and more responsive capacity (human resource) and inventory planning tools. Wholesale and retail inventories are going through the floor, and not just due to a lack of credit. Better systems and methods allowed companies to respond to the downturn much more quickly than in the 1980, 1990, or 2001 recessions. The adjustment will be similar to past adjustments in depth, just quicker.




    On Dec 22 11:20 AM NaiveOptimist wrote:

    > I'll go out on an optimistic limb here, but isn't it possible that
    > businesses reacted much more quickly to this recession than to others
    > and laid off an appropriate number of people in the first year so
    > that deeper cuts can be avoided in subsequent years?
    >
    > It was commonly accepted that the financial crisis would lead to
    > an economic crisis and that demand would diminish. Instead of a slow
    > build up of inventory signaling a recession and a late recognition
    > that companies were overstaffed, companies cut early and deep. For
    > instance, experiences with the dotcom bubble caused a large number
    > of tech companies and startups to let go of people very early in
    > this cycle to conserve cash.
    >
    > I know we're in a negative feedback cycle where layoffs lead to more
    > layoffs, but I'm inclined to believe that each subsequent round (in
    > the US) will be a little smaller than the preceding over the next
    > couple of years.
    Dec 22 22:47 pm |Rating: +1 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • S&P 500 at 600: Is It Possible?
    Roger - you've got a lot of guts posting anything neutral, let alone mildly optimistic on this board. It's pretty clear that Seeking Alpha is read by a bunch of sniveling, self-hating east-coast wienies.
    Dec 22 22:42 pm |Rating: +1 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • The White House vs. The New York Times, Economic Meltdown Edition
    iThinkBig has it right. Our national debt makes us servants of the debt holders.
    Dec 22 22:32 pm |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • No Gambling, Please, This Is the Stock Market
    Yeah, the Dem's are doing a great job protecting our SSI contributions. How about you and I go down to the SSI office and check our their balance sheet and see how much of our contributions are actually in there, invested and making a return.

    The GOP was trying trying to cut 2% of 13% being given to a Ponzi scheme bigger than Madoff's.


    On Dec 22 05:13 PM Herbert Hoover wrote:

    > That's why the GOP wanted self-directed stock market accounts to
    > replace the social security system. They wanted to make sure the
    > rich screwed the poor even unto death.
    Dec 22 22:30 pm |Rating: 0 -1 |Link to Comment |View article
  • 10 ETF Predictions for 2009
    All in all, you seem very optimistic. What are you doing on SA?
    Dec 22 22:27 pm |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • 10 Predictions for the Global Economy
    Echo jepittman. It's hard to dispute your points, but aren't all of them in the Conventional Wisdom section of the latest issue of Newsweek?
    Dec 16 08:59 am |Rating: +1 -1 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Jim Cramer Is Starting to Sound a Lot Like Lenin
    Cramer? Madoff? What's the difference?
    Dec 16 08:58 am |Rating: +1 0 |Link to Comment |View article

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