Just What We Need: A Stressed Consumer [View article]
We won't be buying any big ticket items for the next few years. In the process of bringing our 10 year old cars to tip top shape, no plans to replace them. We don't buy anything unless it is on sale. Further retail stores are passed by while we shop at the thrift stores and garage sales. Got rid of the smart phones, cancelled Cable TV, everything that can be cut, has just been dropped. Now working on how to get rid of other expenses by combining services. We don't expect the economy is going to improve under Obama as jobs are still being destroyed or transferred to other countries under tax burdens, obamacare, and monetary inflation.
Why Do People Hate Rising Stock Prices? [View article]
People that are busy during the day try to invest in companies that have steady earnings increases over time so that we don't have to watch the market day to day. That's getting harder to do as the bump it up and dump it mentality of the short term traders creates situations where stock can jump far beyond a reasonable value and then nose dive the other way. The nose dive the other way also seems to align with the "Getting Laid Off" and having to "Cash in your 401K at the bottom". Making it nearly impossible to be a longer term investor that can't play the micro day trading day. That's why nearly all of my friends have bailed out of the stock markets and are putting their money into rental property.
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
Gene Looks like he is a member of the "We need to reduce population by 90% club too". So which 9 out 10 of his family members is he willing to reduce to set an example for the world?
What Is Really Behind The Rally In Stock Prices? [View article]
Outcastsearcher We are exploring using Mexican Medical Care Providers south of Tucson for our annual check ups, blood chemistry, cholesterol, and endoscopy procedures. We have found a number of facilities that already do this stuff for retired folks at a huge savings to those people. We figured we could save $3K this year. Based on not getting one penny of co pays. If we do that this year and it works out, we will then switch our medical insurance over to catastrophic care which would then save us about $1200 per year in insurance rates. Us low income folks that don't like to take food stamps and other got you by the balls giveaways from Obama, will keep cutting our monthly expenses. We are doing better than neighbors as we don't have house and car payments.
Market Outlook - The Trend Is Scary, But Still Your Friend [View article]
Capacity Utilization can go up when total capacity goes down. So if you had 100 units of capacity at 75% utilization. And then you scrap out plants at 8% in a year with a real 3 % decline, you might now have 72 / 92 = 78% utilization but the real trend was down 3%. So unless we see the gross numbers, the extrapolations are just math plays.
3 years ago, we bought 1/2 our food at store retail and 1/2 food on sale or with coupons. For the two of us, that was $450 per month. Now we buy only food on sale and use coupons, and adjust our monthly food plan around what is only on sale. We have dropped 100% of all convenience foods / Preboxed ready to heat up and eat foods and focus exclusively on raw ingredients. We now pay $560 per month based on last year annual food bill. For 2013, I'll be growing most of our Vegies and eggs. We already switched to powder milk unless Milk is on sale cheap. For 2013, my goal is to get under $400 per month for food. Ironically, we are actually eating better quality, but it takes more time to prepare.
Obama Care is going to cost us about $8K more out of pocket this year. * Monthly Premiums went from $150 to $300 per month * Deductible went from $1500 to $3000 per year * Our Co Pay went from 10% to 20% per year * The insurance payout amounts appear to have gone down and the some of the service providers are talking about no longer accepting the insurance rate but charging the customer for the difference. >> Guess what, just like Corp America, we are exploring outsourcing our annual check ups and endoscopy work to the clinics south of Tuscon (they'll do it for about 1/3 of US).
DuPont Reports 4Q and Full-Year 2012 EPS of $.11 and $3.33 Ex-items [View article]
YUP, gotta hand it to DuPont. Was planning to buy a quart of automotive paint, the primer, and the top coat, hardener and thinner, it was going to cost me a whopping $400 to buy the DuPont brand. Heck with that, went to Napa and bought their brand out the door with all the extra stuff for under $180. Both options were for the same Urethane Paint System products. Then got my damaged bumper painted. Oh guess what, the automotive paint store is now out of business and everyone buys from Napa in this small town. I guess that's a drop in the bucket but it shows that people are going to consider alternatives to a name brand at 55% lower price.
Silver ETF Holdings See Massive Spike, U.S. Mint Runs Out Of Coins [View article]
Thanks to everyone for the details on the SLV ETF. As my Dad use to say, if you can't hold it in your hand thru a depression its likely going to disappear. Over the years, we seem to do better buying and selling the hard stuff like Gold and Silver. Those safe deposit boxes do cost a lot of money per year though.
What Is Really Behind The Rally In Stock Prices? [View article]
Investment Banks seem to be focusing on Mortgages. Are these guys buying junk mortgages from various world wide sources on the cheap, repackaging them, and selling them to Bernanke at list price? And pocketing 200% markups? Seems like some scam is going on here. These guys use to be in the investment banking business putting IPO's together and other high end stuff, but when I read about where their money is coming from it is from mortgages. It just doesn't seem viable that the big Investment banks can me grossing billions and billions per quarter on issuing new or re-fi mortgages. Those might generate a few % on each contract. Seems like there's some big math discrepancy here.
What Is Really Behind The Rally In Stock Prices? [View article]
The 2% Payroll Taxes are small compared to the whopping we just took on our employer medical insurance. * Monthly Premium From $150 per month to $300 per month * Family Deductible from $1500 per year to $3000 per year * Our Co Pay from 10% to 20%. * Reimbursement rate to Providers went down * Some of our providers will no longer accept the "Insurance Pay out Rate" and require that you pay all differences from billing rates. We will not have any extra funds this year for anything we don't need to EAT and Energy. No more out to diinner nights, no more movies, and doing things like cancelling the smart phones. Fortunately for us, we are in much better shape than our neighbors are. We can still live on $36K gross income per year, but just barely.
Michigan Consumer Sentiment Again Falls Below Expectation [View article]
Doug, the reversal of the Payroll Tax is very small compared to the devastating impact we have received from changes in the insurance plans. * Family Deductible doubled from $1500 to $3000 per year * Pre Tax Med Insurance Payment increased from $150 to $300 per month ($1800/ yr) * Co pay changed from 10% to 20%. * We had preventative maintenance procedures scheduled for this year. Upon questioning those facilities, they no longer appear willing to take the Insurance Payout Rate and require that you pay all differences. For a Colonoscopy that out of pocket co pay is about 1/2 of the facility rate that we would have to pay. * When we sum up all the Obama Care and Obama increase in Payroll taxes, we estimate that we just got Whacked for a 25% take on our $36K per year income. * employer also cancelled the local lodging support $5K per year), and we have to eat that too as their reimbursement rates are predicted to be reduced. All total we now have $13K of expenses this year we didn't have last year. My guess is that you can predict that we are not going to buy JaXX ShXX next year that we don't need. We are confident about that, not buying anything not absolutely needed. And I am in the process of cancelling things like smart phone services (a luxury we dont need). We can use a trac fone for $15 a month versus a $90 per month smart phone). Since we are not going anywhere, we don't need the maping convenience either. Further, when we factor in Prop Tax, Prop Insurance, Auto Reg fees, Auto Insurance, we are left with less than $14K per year (versus $22K last year) for food, utilities, auto fuel, and all house hold maintenance. And in our area we are lucky, we are older, and paid off our house and cars. We are in much better shape than our neighbors. However, we are so strapped for cash next year, that I am in discussions to have our preventative maintenance procedures done in Mexico, just south of Tuscon that will do them for 1/3 the price of US charges. Paying outright in Mexico is still cheaper than the Co Pays in the USA are estimated to be. They have US board certified doctors just like in the USA and cater to US citizens, even shuttling them down to their facility. I'm chasing down if our insurance company will support the projects being done in Mexico. If they do that, it's a slam dunk. I'll do my annual physicals at the same time and do all the blood work. Then the only thing I'll need in the USA is Emergency Services if they are needed.
The 787 Dreamliner Is The Titanic Is The Tower Of Babel [View article]
Michael, If you know any key people at Boeing. Let them know that I'd be willing to study their battery problem and help them solve it. I'm retired, but I was the Chief Mechanical / Thermal / Structural Engineer for CISCO Systems and designed the CRS1 Router (Massive thermal problems). Looking at the images of their battery box, I see quite a few design integration issues. My original design of the CRS1 based on thermal solutions is in production as designed / no changes. I write my own Thermal / Fluid Dynamics Codes to solve extremely complex problems.
The 787 Dreamliner Is The Titanic Is The Tower Of Babel [View article]
The Dreamliner is reminding me about the DeHaviland Comet 1 (Late 1950's). Endless problems caused that plane to be removed from the market with a 6 year investigation which resulted in EURO aviation falling behind North American aviation for about 35 years. The Comet 1 did in fact push the technology of the day and resulted in great technical exchange world wide to help learn from the problems encountered. Both planes share a common objectives to be better, more comfortable, and more efficient EU Av only started getting back to parity with N.A. Av around the end of 1999.
In 1998 / 1999 all we saw up here in the mountains were 1/2, 3/4, and one ton American Made 4wd trucks. Over the years we would see fewer trucks and more Mid Sized SUV's (American and Foreign). Now we see some SUV and mostly bottom end econo boxes (80 % foreign). Many of those look like they are 2 to 3 years old but have temp plates on them. I think people had to buy some bottom end cars as they could no longer afford the maintenance on their older trucks and SUVs and I don't think the can afford the payments on the higher end featured cars. We see lots of trucks parked along side houses, they are used to haul firewood, hunting, and fishing, and other truck type duties, but not daily drivers. We see people shopping at the thrift stores. The shopping malls have very few people buying anything. Seems like lots of people walk around the malls to get some miles in, but are not buying much. Plus it's warmer than the outside winter days at 15 deg F.. For 2013 we are seeing huge changes in where our money is going: 2% payroll taxes Doubling of the Insurance Premiums $1800 per year to $3600 Doubling of the annual deductible $1500 to $3000r Reduction of Insurance payment from 90% to 80%. Those are going to hit us to the tune of about $8K costs associated with Obama Care and the new taxes. We don't plan on buying anything for 2013. I'll be shopping at the thrift stores this year.
Just What We Need: A Stressed Consumer [View article]
Why Do People Hate Rising Stock Prices? [View article]
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
Looks like he is a member of the "We need to reduce population by 90% club too". So which 9 out 10 of his family members is he willing to reduce to set an example for the world?
What Is Really Behind The Rally In Stock Prices? [View article]
We are exploring using Mexican Medical Care Providers south of Tucson for our annual check ups, blood chemistry, cholesterol, and endoscopy procedures. We have found a number of facilities that already do this stuff for retired folks at a huge savings to those people. We figured we could save $3K this year. Based on not getting one penny of co pays. If we do that this year and it works out, we will then switch our medical insurance over to catastrophic care which would then save us about $1200 per year in insurance rates. Us low income folks that don't like to take food stamps and other got you by the balls giveaways from Obama, will keep cutting our monthly expenses. We are doing better than neighbors as we don't have house and car payments.
Market Outlook - The Trend Is Scary, But Still Your Friend [View article]
3 years ago, we bought 1/2 our food at store retail and 1/2 food on sale or with coupons. For the two of us, that was $450 per month. Now we buy only food on sale and use coupons, and adjust our monthly food plan around what is only on sale. We have dropped 100% of all convenience foods / Preboxed ready to heat up and eat foods and focus exclusively on raw ingredients. We now pay $560 per month based on last year annual food bill. For 2013, I'll be growing most of our Vegies and eggs. We already switched to powder milk unless Milk is on sale cheap. For 2013, my goal is to get under $400 per month for food. Ironically, we are actually eating better quality, but it takes more time to prepare.
Obama Care is going to cost us about $8K more out of pocket this year.
* Monthly Premiums went from $150 to $300 per month
* Deductible went from $1500 to $3000 per year
* Our Co Pay went from 10% to 20% per year
* The insurance payout amounts appear to have gone down and the some of the service providers are talking about no longer accepting the insurance rate but charging the customer for the difference.
>> Guess what, just like Corp America, we are exploring outsourcing our annual check ups and endoscopy work to the clinics south of Tuscon (they'll do it for about 1/3 of US).
SO much for low inflation.
DuPont Reports 4Q and Full-Year 2012 EPS of $.11 and $3.33 Ex-items [View article]
Silver ETF Holdings See Massive Spike, U.S. Mint Runs Out Of Coins [View article]
What Is Really Behind The Rally In Stock Prices? [View article]
What Is Really Behind The Rally In Stock Prices? [View article]
* Monthly Premium From $150 per month to $300 per month
* Family Deductible from $1500 per year to $3000 per year
* Our Co Pay from 10% to 20%.
* Reimbursement rate to Providers went down
* Some of our providers will no longer accept the "Insurance Pay out Rate" and require that you pay all differences from billing rates.
We will not have any extra funds this year for anything we don't need to EAT and Energy. No more out to diinner nights, no more movies, and doing things like cancelling the smart phones. Fortunately for us, we are in much better shape than our neighbors are. We can still live on $36K gross income per year, but just barely.
What Is Really Behind The Rally In Stock Prices? [View article]
Michigan Consumer Sentiment Again Falls Below Expectation [View article]
* Family Deductible doubled from $1500 to $3000 per year
* Pre Tax Med Insurance Payment increased from $150 to $300 per month ($1800/ yr)
* Co pay changed from 10% to 20%.
* We had preventative maintenance procedures scheduled for this year. Upon questioning those facilities, they no longer appear willing to take the Insurance Payout Rate and require that you pay all differences. For a Colonoscopy that out of pocket co pay is about 1/2 of the facility rate that we would have to pay.
* When we sum up all the Obama Care and Obama increase in Payroll taxes, we estimate that we just got Whacked for a 25% take on our $36K per year income.
* employer also cancelled the local lodging support $5K per year), and we have to eat that too as their reimbursement rates are predicted to be reduced. All total we now have $13K of expenses this year we didn't have last year. My guess is that you can predict that we are not going to buy JaXX ShXX next year that we don't need. We are confident about that, not buying anything not absolutely needed. And I am in the process of cancelling things like smart phone services (a luxury we dont need). We can use a trac fone for $15 a month versus a $90 per month smart phone). Since we are not going anywhere, we don't need the maping convenience either.
Further, when we factor in Prop Tax, Prop Insurance, Auto Reg fees, Auto Insurance, we are left with less than $14K per year (versus $22K last year) for food, utilities, auto fuel, and all house hold maintenance.
And in our area we are lucky, we are older, and paid off our house and cars. We are in much better shape than our neighbors.
However, we are so strapped for cash next year, that I am in discussions to have our preventative maintenance procedures done in Mexico, just south of Tuscon that will do them for 1/3 the price of US charges. Paying outright in Mexico is still cheaper than the Co Pays in the USA are estimated to be. They have US board certified doctors just like in the USA and cater to US citizens, even shuttling them down to their facility. I'm chasing down if our insurance company will support the projects being done in Mexico. If they do that, it's a slam dunk. I'll do my annual physicals at the same time and do all the blood work. Then the only thing I'll need in the USA is Emergency Services if they are needed.
Silver ETF Holdings See Massive Spike, U.S. Mint Runs Out Of Coins [View article]
The 787 Dreamliner Is The Titanic Is The Tower Of Babel [View article]
The 787 Dreamliner Is The Titanic Is The Tower Of Babel [View article]
Is The U.S. Consumer Back? [View article]
For 2013 we are seeing huge changes in where our money is going:
2% payroll taxes
Doubling of the Insurance Premiums $1800 per year to $3600
Doubling of the annual deductible $1500 to $3000r
Reduction of Insurance payment from 90% to 80%.
Those are going to hit us to the tune of about $8K costs associated with Obama Care and the new taxes. We don't plan on buying anything for 2013. I'll be shopping at the thrift stores this year.