Two items, one a radio commercial the other a news item, reveal how the American Dream of home ownership can hides a darker side. For many the recent "housing bubble" and its aftermath have led to foreclosures and debt slavery for those unfortunate enough to be caught in the toils of an unstable economy. For years I have advised that renting is a much better alternative to home ownership, and the two subjects of this post bring the picture into clearer focus.
The radio commercial has two women talking about the home that one of them just bought. "We both make the same salary; how could you afford to buy your own home?" asks the one who is evidently not too well informed about such matters.
"Four bedrooms, three baths," announces the proud new homeowner, "and it's only $199.00 a month!"
The pitch is about foreclosed homes that are being sold for a little as $20,000.00 and if you call the number they give you they'll furnish you with a current list of homes you can buy. Sounds great, doesn't it? Well, maybe not.
What the ad glosses over are the hidden expenses; property taxes, insurance, maintenance, landscaping, and the possibility of loss in value like the folks in Bedford, Texas, are facing.
This small city in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex made the news recently when the Texas Department of Transportation announced that the new highway they are planning is routed in such a way that will take half the back yards of all the homeowners along the proposed route. In one instance the right of way passes through the middle of a swimming pool. These home owners stand to lose no matter which way it goes; they might take the DOT to court, the equivalent of jousting with windmills, and face the expense that would entail along with the loss in property values they are going to suffer.
Home Ownership; the American Dream or a nightmare?
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Stone Walls and Rockheads
A piece on Yahoo! news yesterday told of the problems a resident of Westport, CT, is experiencing over a stone wall he had built in front of his house. It was a replacement for a wall that had stood in the same place for years, so it seemed alright to just build a new one. Later, as it turned out the wall extended six inched onto town property, though when inspectors working for the town visited the site they allowed the construction to go forward. Things would have been fine if the gentleman's neighbors hadn't filed a lawsuit demanding the wall be removed. The legal fees so far amount to $150,000. And the matter doesn't seem close to being settled.
I don't know about you but to me a hundred and fifty grand is a lot of money, far too much to spend on something as stupid as a stone wall. It's the other side of being wealthy, I suppose: do something with your own property and litigious neighbors file lawsuits. It seems that the man who had the wall built, a Mr. Hancock, was perfectly within his rights to build the wall where the old one had stood. If it overlapped town property, as the older one presumably had, then the fault lies with the town; they didn't do their job.
So now Mr. Hancock is out all that money and there is no resolution in sight. I am reporting on this situation because I see a much better - and less wasteful way to resolve the issue. Here goes.
The wall is six inches into town property. So how long is the wall? Sixty feet? Whatever. It can't be much longer, but let's just say it's 60 feet. Instead of all the haggling and miscues, it would have been a simple matter for Westport to lease the thirty square feet of overlap to Mr. Hancock at $100.00 per square foot. That would be $3,000 a year in revenues the town would receive and Mr. Hancock would have to live 50 years longer to run up a bill of $150,000. It would appear that the issue is between Mr. Hancock and the town, thus the lawsuit filed by the neighbor could be thrown out; if it isn't then Mr. Hancock could settle the matter for $50,000 and still be ahead of the game.
I don't know about you but to me a hundred and fifty grand is a lot of money, far too much to spend on something as stupid as a stone wall. It's the other side of being wealthy, I suppose: do something with your own property and litigious neighbors file lawsuits. It seems that the man who had the wall built, a Mr. Hancock, was perfectly within his rights to build the wall where the old one had stood. If it overlapped town property, as the older one presumably had, then the fault lies with the town; they didn't do their job.
So now Mr. Hancock is out all that money and there is no resolution in sight. I am reporting on this situation because I see a much better - and less wasteful way to resolve the issue. Here goes.
The wall is six inches into town property. So how long is the wall? Sixty feet? Whatever. It can't be much longer, but let's just say it's 60 feet. Instead of all the haggling and miscues, it would have been a simple matter for Westport to lease the thirty square feet of overlap to Mr. Hancock at $100.00 per square foot. That would be $3,000 a year in revenues the town would receive and Mr. Hancock would have to live 50 years longer to run up a bill of $150,000. It would appear that the issue is between Mr. Hancock and the town, thus the lawsuit filed by the neighbor could be thrown out; if it isn't then Mr. Hancock could settle the matter for $50,000 and still be ahead of the game.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Silver Lining - What to do about Health Care
I don't have health insurance and don't want any. Obama's much touted health care program is a farce and I'm not having any of that either. A poll appeared on Yahoo! this morning that listed America's most medicated states - Texas wasn't one of them and I like to think I'm doing my part to keep it off that list. I take care of myself. My program is simple;
Eat right; red meat moderately marbled, chicken, fish, etc., no veggies,
Get out in the sun and exercise, and
Stay away from doctors.
But, you say, those are the things that Health Care professionals say you shouldn't do. The reason they tell you this is because there's no money in it for them. They aren't promoting health care but Disease Care; the big pharmaceutical companies don't want you to be healthy because they make money as long as you stay medicated. And aren't health care costs skyrocketing? Yes, and Americans are as sick and obese as ever.
Did I mention that I smoke cigarettes too? Have been for 58 years. And I drink three or four pots of coffee every day.
At this point I must state that I am not a doctor and therefore am not permitted to give medical advice, but I must admit I sometimes do. Like the time a friend, a man of forty, complained that his diabetes was getting him down. He was tired and listless, so I told him to get a bicycle and ride hell out of it. He did, and six weeks later when he went to the doctor - he didn't have diabetes anymore! I have a Gitane 10-speed with 25,000 miles on it, 17,740 since July 13, 2001. That's when I got a Cat's Eye microprocessor installed: it's a speedometer, it measures lapsed time, average speed, and has an odometer. The odometer registers up to 9,999 miles; the current reading is 7,740 miles - the second time around! On March 9, 2006 it reset to zero.
For the record, I am 71 years of age; I stand 6'2" and weigh 230 lbs. I have never been healthier, happier, stronger, and more fit than today. Besides riding my bicycle I also belong to a gym where I go to work with weights two or three times a week. I have no friends my own age; my friends are all at least fifteen years younger than I am and there isn't the slightest hint of a generation gap. And I'm not trying to "look" younger. It's like the day I was riding along and saw a fully restored 1936 Packard sedan. It was beautiful; looked showroom new. Well, I'm a 1938 model and I like to look show room new too. Get healthy and the looks take care of themselves.
The whole trick here is simply the law of supply and demand. Get fit and trim and you won't need doctors and medicines, unless you have a chronic disorder that absolutely calls for certain treatments. When I was 28 years old I worked out with weights and spent a lot of time outdoors - and I looked good. I'd go to the beach to look at the girls and the girls were looking back! At 35 years old I was out of shape and obese - 260 pounds of fat! I watched television(electronic brain damage), drank a lot of beer, and ate like a pig. That was half a lifetime ago; if I can do it there's a better than even chance that you can too.
When I started working out fifteen years ago I could barely do dumbbell presses with 12½ pound weights; today I do sets with 45 lb. dumbbells and am about to graduate to 50 lbs. I can bench press 240 lbs., not a lot by some standards, but for me at this time it's good. I could go on, but you get the idea. Like I tell my friends at the gym, "I may not be Mr. Universe, but I'm not Mr. You-Gotta-Be-Kidding either."
Try it, you may like it. I do. And you get to keep your money instead of paying for expensive prescriptions.
Eat right; red meat moderately marbled, chicken, fish, etc., no veggies,
Get out in the sun and exercise, and
Stay away from doctors.
But, you say, those are the things that Health Care professionals say you shouldn't do. The reason they tell you this is because there's no money in it for them. They aren't promoting health care but Disease Care; the big pharmaceutical companies don't want you to be healthy because they make money as long as you stay medicated. And aren't health care costs skyrocketing? Yes, and Americans are as sick and obese as ever.
Did I mention that I smoke cigarettes too? Have been for 58 years. And I drink three or four pots of coffee every day.
At this point I must state that I am not a doctor and therefore am not permitted to give medical advice, but I must admit I sometimes do. Like the time a friend, a man of forty, complained that his diabetes was getting him down. He was tired and listless, so I told him to get a bicycle and ride hell out of it. He did, and six weeks later when he went to the doctor - he didn't have diabetes anymore! I have a Gitane 10-speed with 25,000 miles on it, 17,740 since July 13, 2001. That's when I got a Cat's Eye microprocessor installed: it's a speedometer, it measures lapsed time, average speed, and has an odometer. The odometer registers up to 9,999 miles; the current reading is 7,740 miles - the second time around! On March 9, 2006 it reset to zero.
For the record, I am 71 years of age; I stand 6'2" and weigh 230 lbs. I have never been healthier, happier, stronger, and more fit than today. Besides riding my bicycle I also belong to a gym where I go to work with weights two or three times a week. I have no friends my own age; my friends are all at least fifteen years younger than I am and there isn't the slightest hint of a generation gap. And I'm not trying to "look" younger. It's like the day I was riding along and saw a fully restored 1936 Packard sedan. It was beautiful; looked showroom new. Well, I'm a 1938 model and I like to look show room new too. Get healthy and the looks take care of themselves.
The whole trick here is simply the law of supply and demand. Get fit and trim and you won't need doctors and medicines, unless you have a chronic disorder that absolutely calls for certain treatments. When I was 28 years old I worked out with weights and spent a lot of time outdoors - and I looked good. I'd go to the beach to look at the girls and the girls were looking back! At 35 years old I was out of shape and obese - 260 pounds of fat! I watched television(electronic brain damage), drank a lot of beer, and ate like a pig. That was half a lifetime ago; if I can do it there's a better than even chance that you can too.
When I started working out fifteen years ago I could barely do dumbbell presses with 12½ pound weights; today I do sets with 45 lb. dumbbells and am about to graduate to 50 lbs. I can bench press 240 lbs., not a lot by some standards, but for me at this time it's good. I could go on, but you get the idea. Like I tell my friends at the gym, "I may not be Mr. Universe, but I'm not Mr. You-Gotta-Be-Kidding either."
Try it, you may like it. I do. And you get to keep your money instead of paying for expensive prescriptions.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Silver Lining - Drugs, a Moral Issue
Our neighbors to the south are experiencing a growing wave of violence as the Mexican government wages war against its major drug cartels, and the cartels battle each other over control of this lucrative export. Here at home our own War on Drugs has been a dismal failure. Drugs are as plentiful today as they have ever been and the lives of innocent people are being destroyed; in Mexico it's by killing people, here it's by locking them up in prison. The one common denominator is corruption, and the solution to the problem is the de-criminalization of drug use. Prohibition taught a lesson that our public officials still don't seem to grasp: prohibit something and people will find a way to profit from it. The Volstead Act benefited organized crime as it criminalized a large segment of the population, many of whom died or were permanently disabled from drinking rotgut.
The latest news from Mexico tells of gunmen breaking into a drug rehabilitation center in Ciudad Juarez and killing 17 people. The piece goes on the tell of police and soldiers being killed in this wave of violence, and people resigning from the police forces out of fear of being targeted. This is crazy! Crazier still is the policy on our side of the border of keeping the market for drugs lucrative by carrying on this stupid War on Drugs. It would be much cheaper to de-criminalize drugs and spend them money on rehabilitation, and to furnish drugs to users who are not ready to quit. That is the only way to effectively deal with the problem: illicit drugs are profit centers, take away the profits and market will collapse.
Drug abuse is a disease which must be cured, not a criminal act that needs to be punished. I advocate spending tax payer's money to buy up all the drugs produced anywhere in the world. Establish tight controls on these supplies, meting out doses to still practicing addicts, and sponsoring rehabilitation centers to treat recovering addicts. If we can structure an effective program to deal with our own drug problem, it could serve as a model for other nations and to these we could sell our surplus drugs as they come on line and adopt the same sane policy. We would end up with all the drugs anyway, as depriving the cartels of their market would take the profits away from the whole downline: acreages now devoted to growing the stuff could be converted to growing food. To do otherwise is to criminalize ourselves as a people further as accessories before the fact to cold blooded murder.
Think about it. Aren't we better than that?
The latest news from Mexico tells of gunmen breaking into a drug rehabilitation center in Ciudad Juarez and killing 17 people. The piece goes on the tell of police and soldiers being killed in this wave of violence, and people resigning from the police forces out of fear of being targeted. This is crazy! Crazier still is the policy on our side of the border of keeping the market for drugs lucrative by carrying on this stupid War on Drugs. It would be much cheaper to de-criminalize drugs and spend them money on rehabilitation, and to furnish drugs to users who are not ready to quit. That is the only way to effectively deal with the problem: illicit drugs are profit centers, take away the profits and market will collapse.
Drug abuse is a disease which must be cured, not a criminal act that needs to be punished. I advocate spending tax payer's money to buy up all the drugs produced anywhere in the world. Establish tight controls on these supplies, meting out doses to still practicing addicts, and sponsoring rehabilitation centers to treat recovering addicts. If we can structure an effective program to deal with our own drug problem, it could serve as a model for other nations and to these we could sell our surplus drugs as they come on line and adopt the same sane policy. We would end up with all the drugs anyway, as depriving the cartels of their market would take the profits away from the whole downline: acreages now devoted to growing the stuff could be converted to growing food. To do otherwise is to criminalize ourselves as a people further as accessories before the fact to cold blooded murder.
Think about it. Aren't we better than that?
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Just in Case You Haven't Seen This One Yet
Fraud is rampant on the Internet and one of the most used is the wire transfer version. Actually it's such an old scam that it has whiskers, but it still appears, as it did for me only this morning. Thus I'm posting this article so you won't be taken in by these vipers.
I drop by craigslist.com every once-in-a-while just to see if there are any part time jobs listed that I might be interested in just to pick up some loose change. There usually isn't anything there that interests me, but yesterday there was a listing for a short term, part time driver. I responded and received an email this morning from the principal. Here is a copy of the email:
Hello,
Thanks for your response, i need to do a brief introduction about my self, i am Dr.Stephen Kaite,i am the present CEO of DE' ALANS CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, site #117 new port,Scotland,we are specialized in taking exhibitions,holding lectures and special events for both adult and youth education activities in architectural development. i would be coming over to the United State for a private research on educational architectural, and construction design and would be working with The United State Architecture Foundation (USAF) and i am glad to read from you as regards the driving job. I have good preparation concerning our pick up and for other purposes which we might need you for, which everything is okay with us, We believe you are fit for this position in as much as you will prove yourself a reliable, loyal and good person. We will be arriving on the Sep 10 2009.I will prefer you have your car available and if your car will not be available due to our schedule let us know so that we can make arrangement to hire a car,
I am offering you $600 weekly and I want to know if you going to be available through out our stay and we will be staying for 8 weeks. Youwill make yourself available 5 times a week to our schedule for 3 hours each day and that should be after sunset around 3:00 Pmto 6:00pm each working day, you will be working on Monday,Thursday, Friday . You will be picking us up from the airport to the hotel on our first arrival and we will be arriving in the morning around 9:00Am to 10:00Am and after our arrival you will be picking us up from the hotel to anywhere we wants to go, Also I want you to know that my Personal Assistant here in united state will be sending you a Paycheck that will cover your first week payment which is $600 and our travel expenses and after you have cash the Paycheck you will deduct your first week payment $600 and the remaining funds will be sent to our Travel Agent through western union money transfer or money gram for our travel expenses, accommodation and any other expenses like gas for the vehicle and more. The paycheck is going to be an instantly cash because we don't want to have any delay and it will be well prepared soon and send out to you.All details regarding our travel will be provided to you as soon you receive the Paycheck and send the remain money to the travel agent for our travel expenses , hotel accommodation, gas for the car and some other necessary things. Get back to me as soon as possible with the following details to prepare the Paycheck with my personal assistant and send it out to you, if you are good with the offer so that we can have a good and comfortable preparation before our arrival schedule.
FULL NAME:
MAILING ADDRESS:
CITY:
STATE:
ZIP CODE:
CELL PHONE:
HOME PHONE:
GENDER:
D.O.B
MARITAL STATUS:
BEST TIME TO CALL:
PRESENT JOB STATUS/POSITION:
Did you accept my offer?
All i need from you is total honesty and sincerity. I know you will be committed to the work ,You will also have a nice period of working with my wife. I will look forward to your e mail with the required information.Here is my phone number +447024035747 please dial as presented for international calls ,
I will be waiting to hear from you
Regards
Stephen
Now I don't know what Steve's doctorate was in but it sure wasn't English. The text is sloppy with poor grammar, usage, syntax, and punctuation. This is the first sign of fraud; the author is a foreigner so poorly grounded in the English language that he seems unaware of his ineptitude. He (she?) claims to be from Scotland but it could be from anywhere; Nigeria and Russia are major sources of Internet scams.
The scenario Steve presents is rather elaborate and is baited to entice the sucker using money and sex.
The money sounds good: $600.00 a week for 15 hours? Not bad! But Steve seems to think that sundown in Dallas, Texas, is around 3:00 to 6:00PM. But the itinerary is otherwise wonderfully detailed; pick him up at the airport, drive him to his hotel, and pick him up at sundown (3:00PM)and return at 6:00PM, after dark I suppose. Not much time to do whatever Steve and company are supposed to be doing. Doesn't seem too clear. Anyway, he wanted me to be available 5 times a week; Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (Steve obviously didn't major in math either) to take him "wherever we wants to go." Yo, bruthuh, maybe we cruise the 'hood wheah I gots mah crib.
The hook is buried in the financial details. Note that Steve wants to send a "Paycheck" from which I am supposed to deduct my first week's pay and send the balance to his travel agent by Western Union or Moneygram transfer. Pretty cute.
The "Paycheck" would most likely be a very genuine-looking cashier's check from some bank in the United States. The last time somebody tried to pull this scam on me the guy was in Wisconsin but the supposed bank was in Santa Fe, New Mexico. And did it ever look good! Counterfeiters can dupe up a check that even fools banks. That time the check was made out for $5,500.00; I was supposed to cash it at my bank, take my cut (I think it was $500.00) and send the rest off somewhere. The check looked so real that the bank would have cashed it, and it could have taken up to six weeks to discover that it was a bogus check. When the check bounced the deficit would be charged back to my account and I would have been out $5,000.00. I responded to this pitch just to see what would happen, so take my word - that check looked genuine!
The sex part of Steve's pitch is suggestive only, but also having a nice period working with is wife opens up a lot of possibilities. What kind of work?
Well, you've got the idea. Do not engage in any financial arrangements that involve cashing checks and wiring sums of money to unknown destinations. The deals sound legitimate and this makes them easy to fall for. One of my friends has a roommate who called me one day about two years ago to say that he had just received a check for $5,000.00 to spend as a "Mystery shopper". He was assigned a couple of stores to visit and report on the kind of service he received. He was to spend about $200.00 and get to keep what he bought. Finally, he was to mystery shop Western Union when he went there to wire the balance to wherever. Good thing he called because he was so taken in by the scam that I had a little trouble convincing him that it was a fraud.
A word to the wise.
I drop by craigslist.com every once-in-a-while just to see if there are any part time jobs listed that I might be interested in just to pick up some loose change. There usually isn't anything there that interests me, but yesterday there was a listing for a short term, part time driver. I responded and received an email this morning from the principal. Here is a copy of the email:
Hello,
Thanks for your response, i need to do a brief introduction about my self, i am Dr.Stephen Kaite,i am the present CEO of DE' ALANS CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, site #117 new port,Scotland,we are specialized in taking exhibitions,holding lectures and special events for both adult and youth education activities in architectural development. i would be coming over to the United State for a private research on educational architectural, and construction design and would be working with The United State Architecture Foundation (USAF) and i am glad to read from you as regards the driving job. I have good preparation concerning our pick up and for other purposes which we might need you for, which everything is okay with us, We believe you are fit for this position in as much as you will prove yourself a reliable, loyal and good person. We will be arriving on the Sep 10 2009.I will prefer you have your car available and if your car will not be available due to our schedule let us know so that we can make arrangement to hire a car,
I am offering you $600 weekly and I want to know if you going to be available through out our stay and we will be staying for 8 weeks. Youwill make yourself available 5 times a week to our schedule for 3 hours each day and that should be after sunset around 3:00 Pmto 6:00pm each working day, you will be working on Monday,Thursday, Friday . You will be picking us up from the airport to the hotel on our first arrival and we will be arriving in the morning around 9:00Am to 10:00Am and after our arrival you will be picking us up from the hotel to anywhere we wants to go, Also I want you to know that my Personal Assistant here in united state will be sending you a Paycheck that will cover your first week payment which is $600 and our travel expenses and after you have cash the Paycheck you will deduct your first week payment $600 and the remaining funds will be sent to our Travel Agent through western union money transfer or money gram for our travel expenses, accommodation and any other expenses like gas for the vehicle and more. The paycheck is going to be an instantly cash because we don't want to have any delay and it will be well prepared soon and send out to you.All details regarding our travel will be provided to you as soon you receive the Paycheck and send the remain money to the travel agent for our travel expenses , hotel accommodation, gas for the car and some other necessary things. Get back to me as soon as possible with the following details to prepare the Paycheck with my personal assistant and send it out to you, if you are good with the offer so that we can have a good and comfortable preparation before our arrival schedule.
FULL NAME:
MAILING ADDRESS:
CITY:
STATE:
ZIP CODE:
CELL PHONE:
HOME PHONE:
GENDER:
D.O.B
MARITAL STATUS:
BEST TIME TO CALL:
PRESENT JOB STATUS/POSITION:
Did you accept my offer?
All i need from you is total honesty and sincerity. I know you will be committed to the work ,You will also have a nice period of working with my wife. I will look forward to your e mail with the required information.Here is my phone number +447024035747 please dial as presented for international calls ,
I will be waiting to hear from you
Regards
Stephen
Now I don't know what Steve's doctorate was in but it sure wasn't English. The text is sloppy with poor grammar, usage, syntax, and punctuation. This is the first sign of fraud; the author is a foreigner so poorly grounded in the English language that he seems unaware of his ineptitude. He (she?) claims to be from Scotland but it could be from anywhere; Nigeria and Russia are major sources of Internet scams.
The scenario Steve presents is rather elaborate and is baited to entice the sucker using money and sex.
The money sounds good: $600.00 a week for 15 hours? Not bad! But Steve seems to think that sundown in Dallas, Texas, is around 3:00 to 6:00PM. But the itinerary is otherwise wonderfully detailed; pick him up at the airport, drive him to his hotel, and pick him up at sundown (3:00PM)and return at 6:00PM, after dark I suppose. Not much time to do whatever Steve and company are supposed to be doing. Doesn't seem too clear. Anyway, he wanted me to be available 5 times a week; Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (Steve obviously didn't major in math either) to take him "wherever we wants to go." Yo, bruthuh, maybe we cruise the 'hood wheah I gots mah crib.
The hook is buried in the financial details. Note that Steve wants to send a "Paycheck" from which I am supposed to deduct my first week's pay and send the balance to his travel agent by Western Union or Moneygram transfer. Pretty cute.
The "Paycheck" would most likely be a very genuine-looking cashier's check from some bank in the United States. The last time somebody tried to pull this scam on me the guy was in Wisconsin but the supposed bank was in Santa Fe, New Mexico. And did it ever look good! Counterfeiters can dupe up a check that even fools banks. That time the check was made out for $5,500.00; I was supposed to cash it at my bank, take my cut (I think it was $500.00) and send the rest off somewhere. The check looked so real that the bank would have cashed it, and it could have taken up to six weeks to discover that it was a bogus check. When the check bounced the deficit would be charged back to my account and I would have been out $5,000.00. I responded to this pitch just to see what would happen, so take my word - that check looked genuine!
The sex part of Steve's pitch is suggestive only, but also having a nice period working with is wife opens up a lot of possibilities. What kind of work?
Well, you've got the idea. Do not engage in any financial arrangements that involve cashing checks and wiring sums of money to unknown destinations. The deals sound legitimate and this makes them easy to fall for. One of my friends has a roommate who called me one day about two years ago to say that he had just received a check for $5,000.00 to spend as a "Mystery shopper". He was assigned a couple of stores to visit and report on the kind of service he received. He was to spend about $200.00 and get to keep what he bought. Finally, he was to mystery shop Western Union when he went there to wire the balance to wherever. Good thing he called because he was so taken in by the scam that I had a little trouble convincing him that it was a fraud.
A word to the wise.