Search LBO-Talk Archives

19021 [lbo-talk] frontiers of financial innovation -- rank: 1000

Jordan Hayes wrote: >In particular, it's a no-brainer when appreciation in the market is >higher than interest rates. Ever take any math classes? :-) Yeah, I know that. Sane people should not take out variable-rate teaser loans when interest rates are near historic lows and house price/income ratios are at historic highs. I'll bet the people taking them out are not the most sophisticated borrowers around. My sister-in-law's wife recently talked to a mortgage broker who was trying to press ...

Document Size:	5294
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Jan 18 16:21:23 PST 2005

19022 [lbo-talk] frontiers of financial innovation -- rank: 1000

I love this phrase I just read in a letter to Business Week: "negative amortization variable-interest mortages with low teaser rates." I'm guessing that this means that in the early stages, your monthly payment doesn't even cover the interest, so the difference gets tacked on to the principal - and, should market interest rates rise, so will your mortgage payment. What are people thinking when they sign up for these things?

Document Size:	5035
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Jan 18 15:04:13 PST 2005

19023 [lbo-talk] cushy life -- rank: 1000

Yoshie Furuhashi wrote: >The choice that confronts many is not between security, comfort, and >pleasure on one hand and insecurity, discomfort, and pain on the >other hand, however. The choice for many is between more security, >more comfort, and more pleasure for themselves and their families in >the present and more security, more comfort, and more pleasure for >all in the future, under the conditions where choosing the latter >leads to less security, less comfort, and le ...

Document Size:	5379
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Jan 18 12:15:56 PST 2005

19024 [lbo-talk] European Union May Ban Nazi Symbols -- rank: 1000

Wojtek Sokolowski wrote: >What is the big attraction of the royal family in the UK, anyway? European >response to Disney cartoon characters? Any comments? David? Anyone? As I recall Tom Nairn's thesis, it's that the royal family represents British nationhood - and there's not much competition for that role. As he pointed out, the place doesn't even have a stable name - sometimes it's England, or Great Britain, or the UK (I know those don't refer to the same things, but that's part of the ...

Document Size:	5241
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Jan 18 10:58:07 PST 2005

19025 [lbo-talk] SS tax = debt (!): stupid press release of the day -- rank: 1000

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, January 18, 2005 Contact: Sonia Hoffman, (703) 912-5742 or shoffman at ipi.org. ************************************************************************ Social Security Personal Accounts Will Refinance Existing Debt, Not Incur New Debt (Washington, DC): WHO: IPI Senior Research Fellow Larry Hunter IPI Senior Research Fellow Peter Ferrara, WHAT: By offering Social Security personal accounts, the government will not incur new debt. Instead, personal accounts only r ...

Document Size:	6113
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Jan 18 09:24:35 PST 2005

19026 [lbo-talk] cushy life -- rank: 1000

Damn, I want a cushy life, and I'm a socialist because I think everyone should have a cushy life! Yeah, I know, the world is imperfect, and universal cushiness is therefore elusive, maybe even impossible, but what's wrong with security, comfort, and pleasure as ultimate political goals. That doesn't mean complacent or stupid; my idea of cushiness includes the time and capacity for intellectual and aesthetic engagement. But there seems to be a kind of leftist who's suspicious of pleasure, who exu ...

Document Size:	5094
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Jan 18 09:22:18 PST 2005

19027 [lbo-talk] on the eve of W 2.0: Nixon-level approval ratings -- rank: 1000

ABC NEWS/WASHINGTON POST POLL: BUSH'S SECOND TERM - 1/16/05 EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE AFTER 5 p.m. Monday, Jan. 17, 2005 Iraq Looms Large Over 2nd Bush Term; Ratings are Tepid, Expectations Mixed George W. Bush approaches his second inauguration with a comparatively weak job approval rating, subdued expectations for his performance in office and the daunting challenge of a single issue with the potential to make or break his second term: Iraq. While the president has signaled an intention to focus o ...

Document Size:	6375
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Jan 18 07:41:40 PST 2005

19028 [lbo-talk] The Note: Dean, frontrunner? -- rank: 1000

<http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/TheNote/story?id=156238> Dean, Dean, Dean, Dean, Dean: Monday's decision by Scott Maddox and the Florida Democratic delegation to the DNC to endorse Howard Dean will precipitate the quickening of opposition to Dean's candidacy (as well as give Dean the potential to break this thing wide open). If the governors or Southern party chairs from other states want to stop him, they'll probably need to stop him by the end of next week. It is hard to see how a Bob Ke ...

Document Size:	10698
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Jan 18 07:32:13 PST 2005

19029 [lbo-talk] honoring Old Glory -- rank: 1000

<http://www9.sbs.com.au/theworldnews/region.php?id=103111&region=3> POOPY FLAG-STANDS BAFFLE POLICE SBS.com.au |14.1.2005 A yearlong search to find who is responsible for sticking small American flags into piles of dog droppings in public parks in Germany has so far been fruitless. "This has been going on for about a year now, and there must be 2,000 to 3,000 piles of excrement that have been thusly adorned during that time," said Josef Oettl, parks administrator in Bayreuth, ...

Document Size:	5699
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Jan 18 06:49:09 PST 2005

19030 [lbo-talk] public opinion on Social Security -- rank: 1000

Gallup.com - January 18, 2005 Social Security[...] by Frank Newport, Editor in Chief The Gallup Poll The Nation's Pulse is a weekly review and discussion of Gallup Poll results on topics currently in the news. Dr. Frank Newport, editor in chief of The Gallup Poll, appears frequently on CNN and other networks to present the public's perspective on the issues of the day. Social Security By many accounts, the Bush administration will undertake its effort to get its proposed privatization of Social ...

Document Size:	9725
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Jan 18 06:40:52 PST 2005

19031 [lbo-talk] dollar crisis postponed -- rank: 1000

US net capital inflows jump to $81.0 bln in Nov Tue Jan 18, 2005 09:22 AM ET WASHINGTON, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Net inflows of capital into U.S. assets surged to an unexpectedly high $81.0 billion in November, according to a Treasury Department report on Tuesday. Net inflows of capital in November were the highest since $81.1 billion in June, rising from a revised $48.3 billion in October. Bank analysts had been expecting net inflows -- the balance between foreign sales and purchase of U.S. assets a ...

Document Size:	6150
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Jan 18 06:31:03 PST 2005

19032 [lbo-talk] LBO poll update -- rank: 1000

Jordan Hayes wrote: >How about just doing a poll about how cushy your life is? > >Oh, that wouldn't be very interesting. Hmmm. It would be interesting, but "cushiness" would be impossible to specify. Doug

Document Size:	4661
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Jan 17 15:24:45 PST 2005

19033 [lbo-talk] publishing news -- rank: 1000

[This is from Friday's NY Post, via Gawker. Jen has moved in with her hairdresser.] The love and loss of Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston will be the subject of a new quickie book from the fledgling Wenner Books line. Jann Wenner is putting Us Weekly Senior Editor Mara Reinstein on the job to write round the clock for two weeks. The plan is to get a paperback out the door and on shelves within four weeks. "I'm in lockdown," said Reinstein. "No one has seen me all day. I've been hole ...

Document Size:	5051
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Jan 17 14:14:31 PST 2005

19034 [lbo-talk] new radio product -- rank: 1000

Just added to my radio archive <http://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/Radio.html>: January 13, 2005 Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert of Karmabanque, on their new hedge fund, which will target especially nasty companies with overvalued stocks * Lew Rockwell of the Mises Institute: a libertarian view of red-state fascism it joins: -------- December 30, 2004 Leslie McCall, professor of sociology & women's studies at Rutgers, on inequality in the U.S. December 23, 2004 Maya Rockeymoore of the Co ...

Document Size:	7262
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Jan 17 14:01:01 PST 2005

19035 [lbo-talk] LBO poll update -- rank: 1000

Chuck0 wrote: >This poll doesn't say much about how cushy people's live are. You >need to do a poll about income. Looking at the poll results, I would >group Business, University, Non-profit, and Government respondents >as living comfy lives. Of course, there are some people who get paid >little by non-profits. The poll also doesn't indicate if the >"self-employed" people are just scraping by or are running >businesses that give them a nice house. How dare they! Mu ...

Document Size:	5114
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Jan 17 11:16:30 PST 2005