100 billion going to ACORN! That is enough to scuttle the entire thing. Locally we could have "fun" with that I've watched way too much CNBC in the last ten months since my constitutionally protected first funding MN PERA early retirement. CNBC seems fair overall in their coverage (great Sarah Palen interview done before the announcement) but I saw no indication of this credit crisis coming to a head. I knew the basics of "creative financing" were bad but didn't see an immediate crisis. The 1977 CRA was always throwing a lot of money at the "hood". I lived in the Minneapolis Phillips neighborhood for a couple of years before buying a house in the Longfellow neighborhood. I recall getting a lot of very attractive finance programs if I would want to buy in he Phillips neighborhood. For the neighborhoods like Phillips this was good to attract responsible homeowners but like the Jeffersons I wanted to "move on up" and not deal with the hassles of the "hood". Buying in Longfellow definitely improved my "quality of life" (here in Longfellow someone took my ten year old garden hose but even there an ex girlfriend with a propensity for "borrowing" things is a key suspect. That is my "crime of the decade" here in Longfellow. My old Phillips nieborhood is holding on due to immigrants who didn't know about the "creative financing" thing where repayment of the loan is optional. Go to the near North Side and it's far worse. Would responsible people want to buy a house in a "war zone"? They dumped huge amounts of money into North Minneapolis and they have this huge default percentage. This did nothing to help the responsible people who bought houses there. A former roommate just filed criminal charges against a North Minneapolis building inspector who solicited money for a marginal scrap lumber violation. I think it was $300 to remove it and "make the complaint go away". This person had a court related job so this person knew how to set a trap and deal with it. You might recall that Barak Obama was "associated" with a few Chicago Real Estate projects in the "hood" that defaulted. Somehow the mainstream media doesn't seem interested in this. Also, the figure of some called "sub prime mortgages at risk is under 5% of total owner occupied housing. I don't thing the vast majority of the public, including myself, who paid off my mortgage in under 20 years and never did a takeout will be be sympathetic to these "something for nothing" sub prime borrowers. There will need to be a bailout but who caused it. That said, I suspect the public has little sympathy for the six, seven and eight figure compensation "geniuses" on the "supply" side. If any impropriety, lock them up for life sharing a cell with "spike" and throw away the key. This prosecution should go deep.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Harbor Freight retail stores.
I could find no feedback option for the retail stores. I was at the Signal Hills Minnesota store. I was there and it was slow but they had no available shopping carts! You have to keep in mind that a lot of the more senior people in construction and such have bad knees or hips. (including me) I went to shop for tools but it was literally painful without a shopping cart, which doubles as a walker. I got a few thing but the lack of a shopping cart/walker became too much so I curtailed the shopping after two items. I saw a half a dozen cart with restock stuff. The staff responded to customer requests but otherwise they were chatting rather than restocking.
I have bad knee and hip joints and usually figure shopping to be exercise with shopping cart to be walkers. I saw a few other customers "leaning" that day. This cannot be good for business.
I visited the "Harbor Freight south" because I also wanted to visit the Super K Mart there. (I bought $80 there with a shopping cart)
I regularly shop at the smaller Columbia Heights store. I have nothing but praise for the staff at the Northern store.
I have bad knee and hip joints and usually figure shopping to be exercise with shopping cart to be walkers. I saw a few other customers "leaning" that day. This cannot be good for business.
I visited the "Harbor Freight south" because I also wanted to visit the Super K Mart there. (I bought $80 there with a shopping cart)
I regularly shop at the smaller Columbia Heights store. I have nothing but praise for the staff at the Northern store.
Monday, September 8, 2008
A medical device opine by me.
I will cross post at my http://65y.com I don't want to "name names" here because I was given good answers when asked (after my internet research).
Basically three years ago I fell off a bicycle and had a very painful knee. I had/have Health Partners who referred me to a specialist. Judging from the office I lot of local sports figures have used this doctor so I figure that he is competent.
I had knee joint necrosis shown by X-Ray and MRI. This doctor correctly predicted that my tendon injuries would heal themselves with time and that things would go better if I lost weight. These are all true. He mentioned a three month waiting list for knee replacements and asked me if I want to get on the list.
I told him that I had two years before the option of early civil service retirement, which I took http://ruleof90.com so I hoped to "tough it out" until then. He wished me luck but advised me to lose weight and questioned weather my knee would hold out that long.
My "out of pocket" costs" were reasonable, I think $10 per visit and 10% or $100 for the MRI were reasonable. Again, this was Health Partners.
Three years later I have retired and have not had knee replacement surgery. The knee joint is maybe six or seven on mobility things that give me some trouble. The tendons are near the top of the list and they would probably be a lot worse with a knee replacement. Part of it is "first pain". Tonight I was working on a challenging home repair project where I was on my feet constantly for more than two hours. Initially, some joint pain but mostly minor muscle pain. Nothing serious.
Anyway, when I was in this doctor's office there was a woman from a nursing home who had to be over 80 and there was a transportation dilemma that I overheard. The woman's daughter arrived and she and the staff were discussing transport option back to the nursing home for her mother. I overheard the doctor explaining to the daughter how the woman was a candidate for a knee replacement.
The old woman barely recognized her daughter (my mother, until her death recognized me the moment I got near her, bless her, and hugged and kissed me enough to make girlfriends jealous but she was diagnosed with dementia)
The old woman in the doctors office had classic dementia/Alzheimer's symptoms and she was in nursing home but the doctor was setting her up for a hip replacement!
Before I retired I worked with a couple of people with hip replacements. You have a three month rehab time with hip replacements and that assumes you are motivated. That's on par with a knee replacement. I have a number of people at work who had had knee replacements or knew someone at work so I kept track of the rehabs. Typically three months and this is with motivation and aggressive rehab.
That said, if I decided on a knee-replacement I would trust this doctor to do it, but he seems to advise them like "popcorn". The rehab cost is huge after the surgery. I wondered how this 80 year old woman with Alzheimer's would handle rehab, which I considered very tough.
Again, I considered my out of pocket costs of under $200 to be reasonable and all my questions were answered well but I consider myself to be very informed.
Basically three years ago I fell off a bicycle and had a very painful knee. I had/have Health Partners who referred me to a specialist. Judging from the office I lot of local sports figures have used this doctor so I figure that he is competent.
I had knee joint necrosis shown by X-Ray and MRI. This doctor correctly predicted that my tendon injuries would heal themselves with time and that things would go better if I lost weight. These are all true. He mentioned a three month waiting list for knee replacements and asked me if I want to get on the list.
I told him that I had two years before the option of early civil service retirement, which I took http://ruleof90.com so I hoped to "tough it out" until then. He wished me luck but advised me to lose weight and questioned weather my knee would hold out that long.
My "out of pocket" costs" were reasonable, I think $10 per visit and 10% or $100 for the MRI were reasonable. Again, this was Health Partners.
Three years later I have retired and have not had knee replacement surgery. The knee joint is maybe six or seven on mobility things that give me some trouble. The tendons are near the top of the list and they would probably be a lot worse with a knee replacement. Part of it is "first pain". Tonight I was working on a challenging home repair project where I was on my feet constantly for more than two hours. Initially, some joint pain but mostly minor muscle pain. Nothing serious.
Anyway, when I was in this doctor's office there was a woman from a nursing home who had to be over 80 and there was a transportation dilemma that I overheard. The woman's daughter arrived and she and the staff were discussing transport option back to the nursing home for her mother. I overheard the doctor explaining to the daughter how the woman was a candidate for a knee replacement.
The old woman barely recognized her daughter (my mother, until her death recognized me the moment I got near her, bless her, and hugged and kissed me enough to make girlfriends jealous but she was diagnosed with dementia)
The old woman in the doctors office had classic dementia/Alzheimer's symptoms and she was in nursing home but the doctor was setting her up for a hip replacement!
Before I retired I worked with a couple of people with hip replacements. You have a three month rehab time with hip replacements and that assumes you are motivated. That's on par with a knee replacement. I have a number of people at work who had had knee replacements or knew someone at work so I kept track of the rehabs. Typically three months and this is with motivation and aggressive rehab.
That said, if I decided on a knee-replacement I would trust this doctor to do it, but he seems to advise them like "popcorn". The rehab cost is huge after the surgery. I wondered how this 80 year old woman with Alzheimer's would handle rehab, which I considered very tough.
Again, I considered my out of pocket costs of under $200 to be reasonable and all my questions were answered well but I consider myself to be very informed.
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