Journaling on estrip is easy and free. sign up here

Vincent's Journal

vincent
My Podcast Link

10/03/2008 01:20 #45911

The other debate
Category: elections
Well I have to admit I didn't watch much of the VP debate tonight. I actually listened and watched the Canadian Prime Minister Debate. For starters the entire system seems to be much more cost effective and intense than our system. Stephen Harper called the election September 7th and the election is going to be held October 14th and the new Government will take office November 12th 8 days after the U.S. Election. It's just a straight to business approach as opposed to this 3 year marathon we go through where it seems there is more campaigning than actual governance. Even the format where all 5 parties basically go at each other, although with a moderator seems more entertaining than this Q&A format that just seems stale.

I lost my reply to Josh's post the other night. But I though I'd share a top 10 list from this show last night of which I did not get a chance to listen.

From what I took in tonight just ease dropping on CNBC the bailout can't save everything. World economies are just slowly down too much to absorb all of the inventory sitting out there in warehouses. Inventory costs money by the day, eventually when too much stuff piles up the layoffs will come slowly and surly. Then are we going to bailout the big box retailers? Are we then going to bail out the commercial real estate developers? The ones that even faced with an empty plaza vacated from an anchor like Ames, Hills or Vix; Who kept on building another brand spanking new strip mall with tight spaces that sits half empty? Are we going to bail those guys out as well?

With all the new pork that has been inserted, maybe it is just a patch until after the elections like that top 10 list indicated. They can't keep everyone going since the only people left to borrow money from is the counties where we buy our goods anyway. They just needed to get enough guys to switch by throwing a pet project or cause their way.
dcoffee - 10/03/08 10:27
Cost effective is a great word for Canada. I saw Bill Clinton on Letterman or some show, and he said that the US government spends 18% of its budget on Healthcare, other countries like us spend under 11% of their budget on it. We don't even cover everyone, but the government alone is paying more than other countries. Not to mention all the private costs to individuals. We must have the most wasteful inefficient system in the world. My wife works at a hospital, I'm learning a lot about the healthcare system. Dealing with insurance companies alone is an unbelievable waste of time and money.

10/01/2008 00:43 #45873

weak extitentialist reflection
Category: reflection
That way back index from google is kind of crazy in looking back. I remember I googled an ex-girlfriend around that time and discovered that she was married. I later found out that it was a totally insane unbalanced Vegas wedding and later confessed some crazy things. So from that experience although I did get a chuckle that search result was still there, although the page that lead to her email at the time has long been taken down obviously. Ah memories...

On another thought the good old existential side of myself got some pretty good material over the weekend. I kind of knew her as she was a waitress at a local restaurant where I washed dished as a kid. Later she was the local bartender as mentioned in the article and kind of an institution, although I rarely ever went there.

The scary part was that I actually was driving the 290 that night as I was coming home from a birthday get together at the house of a guy i work with around 12 midnight or so. It was eerie foggy that night as if it was out of some insane movie on IFC or Sundnace. It also kind of got me thinking as Monday would have been my sister's birthday, if she wasn't in a car accident.

What am I trying to say. It's really a reality check as to why I am being so conservative with my life. What do I gain from living a frugal life and not doing anything exciting with my time or money? Yea as I learned in August going to the Hard Rock Hotel in Vegas and partying like a rockstar isn't the answer to life, that rock and roll fantasy really threw me against the wall mentally in a way, but in some ways I needed to have reality slap me in the face. All that really did was reinforce the truth that you need close friends that give a shit about you if you ever get into a messy situation.

Another question is that even in the face of this coming clusterfuck (this bailout isn't going to save us all even in the shorterm "my opinion") did the people that spent and partied like there is no tomorrow have something right in their philosophy? They lived life to the fullest & some of them are getting their ass saved. Heck they most of them actually get laid and sleep with some beautiful people to boot. While stiffs like me just work, save and play it safe with most aspects of their life.

I guess what I'm just reflecting is maybe deep down inside I'm kind of disappointed that there isn't a payoff yet for the people that didn't overextend themselves. We'll have to get to the point of bank holidays and people selling pencils for some dorkish principles that I hold true to become attractive and pay off. The swagger of the last time period has not died off as of yet, unless you're (e:hodown) in NYC looking at people freaking out that their life as they knew it has ceased to exist.

If you made it this far thanks for reading my neurosis. I'm going to read some Jean-Paul Sartre and go to bed now...

09/29/2008 09:41 #45836

Are there any banks left?
Category: finance
To play on the downside that is...

Wachovia gets taken out

The ironic part is that at the end of the day it was worth pennies. Which totally pissed me off in the sense that this whole "Get Shorty" thing with the markets is just a big central planning lie. In reality short sellers are just playing a game of "I Call Bullshit" on a grand scale. Now that it's monday how can anyone say that the company really deserved to be trading at 19.71    as recently as 9/8/2008??? The thing was just as overpriced as a house on the coasts.
metalpeter - 09/29/08 18:41
There are lots of banks still around. On a side note maybe I'll do a post about it but I think the bail out is the wrong thing to do.
mrmike - 09/29/08 10:39
I saw Jim Kramer this morning on the today show and it looked like he had been sedated. I have a car loan with Wachovia and I can't help but wonder will own the loan in the coming days.

09/28/2008 02:01 #45818

R.I.P. Paul Newman
Category: celebrity
I recieved a text tonight from my friend in Las Vegas that I am in a Fantasy Hockey League with saying he was going to just watch over and over again tonight the movie Slap Shot

Yes, Paul Newman had a great career and also kick ass Salad Dressing. But it's the role of Reggie 'Reg' Dunlop that really blew me away as a kid watching the movie on WUTV Ch 29 some random evening in the mid to late 80's

Then again most people just remember the Hanson Brothers. Well, here's a clip that kid of combines the two...


09/30/2008 00:34 #45856

-777 & -199
Category: finance
Yea, I'm a bit surprised that the numbers for the Dow and Nasdaq worked out so nice. The only time I can remember closing numbers being so freaky is when the U.S. went into Bosnia & the Dow closed @ 10,666. Actually thinking back to that time wasn't it the Clinton administration ? Wait someone did talk about the Clinton administration today:



There is some validity in the speech, but at the same time a lot of stuff was sure left out as to how we ended up at this place in the recent past. This video is for the most part a McCain campaign ad, but it does bring up one point. The GSE's that were protected by the democrats in committee here were NEVER under SOX or Sarbaines-Oxley that little Accounting law that was intended to prevent things like this from ever happening after Enron.

So all I'm saying is that both parties are to blame and nothing that was done 6 months or a 1 year ago caused this to all happen. Also 40% of the Democrats voted AGAINST the bill. Did she say the things above just to get a word of spit in knowing that the whole thing was dead at that point? What happened to the new era of post-partisanship?




jason - 09/30/08 09:34
Nan is just being a good team player.
joshua - 09/30/08 09:24
Pelosi is a ridiculous lady.
mrmike - 09/30/08 07:42
She's been pretty useless considering she might have been able to claim a change mandate in 06. She walked into her own trap with this address