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Lead Indicators of San Diego Economy as Gloomy as Ever
"The Labor Department reported today (March 26) that the number of people collecting state unemployment benefits for the most recent week jumped by 122,000 to a record 5.56 million, seasonally adjusted." Holy cats!!— March 26, 2009 5:25 p.m.
Shed a Tear: Top Hedge Fund Managers' Average Pay Dropped 48% Last Year -- to $464 Million
Hey guys ~ thanks for the good words. Means a lot to me comin' from all of you. Now that I've overcome being shy about entering in, hope to be back as a more frequent visitor. You're the best!!— March 26, 2009 5:01 p.m.
Shed a Tear: Top Hedge Fund Managers' Average Pay Dropped 48% Last Year -- to $464 Million
Thanks Don. We're still on the same page then. Yeah, I agree with the "faux" recovery and the very real prospect of inflation "gone wild". Cash was king for a while when you could safely tuck it away in a CD and make 4.5 to 5.5 percent on it. But I'll be damned if we're going to lend the slime-ball banks our money for 1 to 1.5%. We've set aside enough cash to backstop ourselves when cash-flow is a little more ebb than flow, but have used the rest to cash out and rehab some very nice single family rentals that will return a whole lot more than we'll get from any bank or, God forbid, market investment. The strategy is de-leverage, generate cash-flow to meet or exceed the monthly household nut --then five to ten years down the line, figure out what's next. Livin' large (or La Vida Loca) has never been our style, so our spending is pretty consistently on what will eventually gain in value, rather than immediately lose value. We're way past that stage of life where ya spend more than ya have to keep up appearances. At the moment we're doin' our thing for the economy. You should see our Home Depot bills -- but they're paid in full every month. And we're doin' all our own work. That's the trick. There are still a whole lot of people out there being told now's the time to "borrow" and buy as an investment. I'd so advise against that. If you can cash out and hold, that's cool. If you can't just hold on to what you've got and ride it out. Sheesh -- why do we have to work so hard at this survival game? We're workin' off self-generated retirement income. This is all we've got so we've got to be smart and careful with it. What I'd like to know is "where's MY billion dollar bonus"? Don't they get that if they break us, they're killin' the golden goose? That puzzles me. Ford got it like so right -- he wasn't a great humanitarian, just an astute businessman. If he didn't pay his people, who was going to buy his cars? I'm sure some think well now that we're a 'global' economy, we U.S. workers and consumers ain't no big whoop. Wrong-o!! Look at the rest of the entire world when we tank. They "all" go with us -- even the Saudis. Even Dubai is having to borrow money from Abu Dahbi (sp.?). Anyway, this is way too long for a blog, but once I get started it's hard to stop. Thanks again. You do a great job as do your fellow bloggers.— March 25, 2009 6:54 p.m.
Shed a Tear: Top Hedge Fund Managers' Average Pay Dropped 48% Last Year -- to $464 Million
Since I can't think of anyone whose opinion on matters of finance and the economy I agree with and trust more than yours, I've got to ask~ I was reading some of your earlier blog responses last night and came upon a prediction that you thought we should be seeing signs of a recovery to this incredible mess in (I think it was), the fourth quarter of "this" year. I've got to ask ~ what in the world do you see spurring this recovery? As you said in your February 25 City Lights column (Help Obama. Borrow. Buy.), the banks don't want to lend and, more importantly, consumers don't want to borrow. They're in up to their eyeballs and know it. With unemployment on the rise, wages stagnant or dropping, and we haven't even seen the coming wave of credit card defaults, what in the world is going to pull us out of this tail spin? Those "big brains" in Treasury, the Fed, etal.? Unlike what Obama claims, I see efforts to re-inflate the housing and real estate bubble again at a grass-roots level. How the hell else are they going to con people into the borrow/spend/be-a-big-shot mode without conning them into believing their worth is greater than it is? Will appreciate your insight ... TNX— March 25, 2009 4:27 p.m.