Cool and dry, a bit windy. Probably. Houston was nice, with patchy overcast. The BOL was sunny and patchy clouds with occasional local showers. And chilly. 55F by the water last night.
Got the truck loaded, and made it to the BOL. Met some people in the community (local ham club) where my feeling that everyone here knows everyone else was reinforced 10x… The LEO knew which house we own as soon as someone said “Bob Johnson’s house”… and the lady sitting next to me has kin on my street. The guy I’m going to help with his tower lives on the other side of the lake, near where we first were looking for a place. If we were British the phrase “Are you local?” would be heard… and if things go badly I’m sure I’ll hear “y’all ain’t from around here are you?”
As long as we can fit in, it will all be good.
Gonna work really hard on that.
And stack some stuff. Lots of stuff.
n
IIRC, the UK does not guarantee deposits like the US does with the FDIC.
In theory, there is a limit to coverage in the US, but, as SVB demonstrated, that ends up being an interesting suggestion in the face of politics involving wealthy depositors knowingly taking risks chasing higher returns than what is available at the “too big to fail” banks.
Not that it really matters since MF Global changed the rules about “money market” accounts, but we haven’t seen a mass test of that precedent … yet.
@greg:
I suspect that it’s the money market bros closing ranks to protect their own, whether money or cronies is unclear to me.
G.
Probably more about cronies. SVB was influential in the tech industry, but, more important, the bank was a major player in the wine business.
Don’t underestimate the significance of that. Lots of wealthy in the US fantasize about owning wineries, and the current Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, was a trust fund baby who built “businesses” in the trade.
The moment Biden assumes room temperature or somehow gets reelected next year, absent a Jesus Candidate for President emerging like Obama did from nowhere (cough), Newsom becomes the leading Democrat contender in the following Presidential election cycle.
Currently in Bryan Texas for three days. Stopped at the nephew’s yesterday and went to dinner. I was confused on where I was and blindly followed the GPS. For some reason I thought the Hempstead was west of Bryan. It was confusing driving to the outskirts of Houston when we went to dinner at Cracker Barrel.
Talking with the nephew, who is a state trooper, I found out he earns north of a six figure salary. Compared to the local LES’s who have a starting salary of about $35K. He has only been a trooper for about 5 years. He likes Hempstead/Brenham much better than Orange TX.
The UK guarantees deposits up to GBP85K in any single institution. In 2008 the government went beyond this, for example actually paying out to investors in Iceland banks which were not UK guaranteed.
Credit Suisse shares dropped 30% today as Saudi investors will not lend additional money.
That’s not the issue with SVB. They did not take retail clients (i.e., individuals). Their customers were small- to mid-size companies. Apparently, SVB has enough assets to cover the deposits in all of those accounts. However, after liquidating those assets, it won’t have enough left to exist as a bank any longer. Investor money goes poof. And that’s how it should be.
What the government has done, is step in and speed things up. This way, hundreds of companies with SVB accounts can get at their money now, instead of in a few years after bankruptcy proceedings. Otherwise, SVB would drag hundreds of companies unnecessarily into bankruptcy, and cause financial distress for many thousands of individuals.
Also, just wanted to toss out that the FDIC insurance of $250k is a joke for any company but the smallest of mom-and-pops. A company with, say, 100 employees will have a monthly payroll of $1million or so. And I hope they have more than a month’s running expenses in their bank accounts.
from far away in the south, we saw a lot of incidents on banks, etc
47F but sunny and bright. Should warm up. Getting my day started. N
Absent a ruling from the courts in response to a lawsuit over the payout, the limit was tossed out the window with SVB.
Reminder to those of you in the South: The Spring Equinox is nearly here. Remember to reverse the battery cables in your cars so that the air conditioning will come on instead of the heat.
Sink the ships. Mine the border. Declare open season on illegal border crossers. Mass arrests and deportations of any illegal aliens. Huge fines for people hiring illegals. Quit granting refugee status to economic refugees. Disallow remits (or tax at 50% or more). Reverse birthright citizenship. Require fluent English for a) legal immigration status and especially b) naturalized citizenship. Restore pre-1965 immigration quotas and requirements: English language, sponsors, health screening, background checks.
All possible, most were in place until Ted “Hey, vote for me! All my good* brothers are dead!” Kennedy screwed up US immigration policy. Britain could do similar, except the UK is dead, fully replaced by immigrants.
* I don’t believe any of them were any good, maybe Joe, but public perception of their martyr status helped Ted’s cause.
On Livingston’s book list:
Rendezvous With Rama is a series, too. Shouldn’t he know this? The first book rocks, the rest are weird.
On Easter Eggs:
Our family never hid eggs. The fun was decorating the HB eggs and making baskets. And chocolates. And Peeps. Then eating it all on Easter at the family gathering. I am a Christian, btw.
On TV:
D4 and I binged “Only Murders in the Building”. Pretty funny. Selena Gomez has this nasally voice that is annoying. Maybe she is just acting.
On health news:
I’m down with something. Minor sore throat, runny nose, so far. I’m not even going to take a COOTIE test since that is probably what ails me. Maybe a cold, allergies don’t give me a sore throat.
re illegal immigration, President SteveF would announce a pardon for anyone convicted of killing an illegal alien or anyone hiring an illegal alien. I imagine they’d self-deport about fifteen minutes after that announcement, at no cost to the government.
Only in America…Land of Opportunity…
San Franciscans line up at board meeting to sing and shout their support for a reparations plan to give every black resident $5M, wipe personal debt, provide $97K incomes and homes for just $1 – and no one asks how the city will foot the bill
The Amish Will Inherit The Earth. If White ProgLibTurds have any say in it. Maybe plugsy McFJB will bail out SF with an EO.
No, it isn’t acting. She’s there because the Steve Martin/Martin Short/Letterman circle find her appealing, which was kinda disturbing a decade ago when Letterman was fired but is now simply creepy.
Gomez wasn’t the reason Letterman was fired, but she was part of the motivation for CBS to jettison Dave and his production company from the network and Ed Sullivan theater as fast as possible in 2015.
Cities can file bankruptcy and the courts will support the pensions of the cops having priority over the bondholders.
@lpdbq dec 31 406, always happen similar things
Yeah, you’ll live with that for a long time. Still, sounds like you’re doing a great job of integrating yourself into the local community!
We’re working on the same thing, though maybe with somewhat less intensity. The locals are probably more tightly integrated than where you are, but nonetheless open to newcomers. One of my current efforts: There’s a tradition in Swiss towns that there will be a group of regulars at a local pub. What we call a “Stammtisch”. Usually occupied by locals. For whatever reason, there isn’t one here – probably because the restaurant that would have hosted it was closed for a few years.
So I’m working to establish one. Right now, there are just three of us, none of us really local, and we go every Thursday evening for a beer or three. I’ve invited a fourth guy, who was born and raised here, to join us this week. I figure it’s 70% chance he’ll come. Then we find the next guy to invite, and the next…
No news about the crazy neighbors. They’ve hauled a couple of car-loads of stuff to their new house, but haven’t actually moved in yet. I figure it’s imminent, though. Still working on a way to force them to repair the damages to our driveway. Apparently, the legal situation is complicated by the fact that they did not personally do anything, they hired it done. Which is exactly what their general contractor says: “we just did what we were hired to do – not our problem.” Oh well, it’s not urgent – I just want it repaired before next winter, because snowblowing the part that is now unpaved is just a PITA.
@Lynn: Bought another book off of that list you published. I now have a few months’ worth queued up – looking forward to them. Meanwhile: how’s it going with your crazy neighbors?
@Lynn: Bought another book off of that list you published. I now have a few months’ worth queued up – looking forward to them. Meanwhile: how’s it going with your crazy neighbors?
You don’t want to know. We don’t know if the neighbor has sold the property or not. We don’t know if there is a closing date. I am owed $33K at closing according to the agreement. I am not planning on spending that money until I count it out.
We had to modify the easement agreement to the entropy death of the Sun in order to make their mortgage company happy. That cost me another $3K in legal fees. I am pissed. My lawyer is pissed. My wife is pissed. My mortgage company for the office property is pissed. I have refused to pay my lawyer so far.
They are suppose to provide the land survey for the easement agreement. They want me to get it done and pay for it. Not gonna happen. I have to take a stand somewhere.
“Stacey Abrams Takes Job With Environmental Group Trying to Eliminate Gas Stoves”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/03/stacey-abrams-takes-job-with-environmental-group-trying-to-eliminate-gas-stoves/
Just another dumbrocrat scumbag.
Chiseling for fun and profit.
“Meta Is Laying Off Another 10,000 People, Closing 5,000 Open Roles”
https://www.pcmag.com/news/meta-is-laying-off-another-10000-people-closing-5000-open-roles
“Multiple layers of management will disappear as Zuckerberg restructures his company.”
The layoffs will continue until the company is profitable.
@lynn:
Not quite. Say “profitable enough” and I’ll agree. Of course, “enough” is always unattainable.
G.
Follow-up to yesterday’s discussion of date formats:
There’s a good reason to use MMDDYY format, just briefly. The last day of this year will be 123123.
>> The layoffs will continue until the company is profitable.
Acknowledging the original…”The whippings will continue until morale improves.”
Follow-up to yesterday’s discussion of date formats:
There’s a good reason to use MMDDYY format, just briefly. The last day of this year will be 123123.
Oh gosh, that is terrible. Looks fake as all get out.
I use YYYYMMDD. The last day of this year will be 20231231. Nothing weird or special but it sorts properly.
>> In theory, there is a limit to coverage in the US, but, as SVB demonstrated, that ends up being an interesting suggestion in the face of politics involving wealthy depositors knowingly taking risks chasing higher returns than what is available at the “too big to fail” banks.
Right now there’s no incentive for the TBTF banks to raise savings rates for individual investors. When the Fed raises interest rates, the big banks, for the most part, remain at a quarter or a half a percent, while, of course, immediately raising credit card interest rates. For those that make the effort, right now there are several on-line only banks offering around four percent on savings accounts.
Lynn, you may be interested in https://takecontrol.substack.com/p/lyme-government-making-bugs-more-deadly
No idea if it’s crank talk or the real deal.
“China has launched hundreds of satellites to target US: Space Force chief says Beijing is developing anti-satellite missiles, electronic jammers, lasers and technology that can MOVE rival orbiting platforms”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11864231/Space-Force-chief-says-China-developing-anti-satellite-missiles-electronic-jammers-lasers.html
“China has launched dozens of satellites in the past six months and the People’s Liberation Army now has 347 orbiting craft that can gather intelligence on American armed forces, according to the head of the U.S. Space Force.”
“Gen. Chance Saltzman told senators that Beijing was the ‘most immediate threat’ to U.S. operations as it develops lasers to disrupt satellite sensors, electronic warfare jammers and even builds craft that could grab and move rival orbiting platforms out of position.”
China looks more and more to be a nation preparing for war. Heinlein’s “Sixth Column” book still looks to be appropriate.
Hat tip to:
https://www.drudgereport.com/
Difference between “conspiracy theory” and “history”: six months to two years.
Lynn, you may be interested in https://takecontrol.substack.com/p/lyme-government-making-bugs-more-deadly
No idea if it’s crank talk or the real deal.
The CDC, a closely affiliated entity of the USA Army Bioweapons Division, has been performing Gain of Function work for many years.
The Chinese, who the CDC contract to do their Gain of Function work, feel that Lyme was created by the USA Army in the Plum Island Animal Disease Center on Long Island, New York.
http://www.news.cn/english/2021-08/25/c_1310146419.htm
Me, I have no idea. But I have a lot of suspicions.
There is a great movie about the USA Army Bioweapons group, “Outbreak”, with Dustin Hoffman. Donald Sutherland, and a few other good actors.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outbreak_(film)
It might be a long ride down. The online ad bubble is deflating.
I’m going to do an experiment. Wells Fargo wants ~$533 a month for a truck payment. I send $600 a month. I don’t need to make another payment until July.
My understanding of the loan papers is I can go to a WF branch to make a loan payment and tell them to “put it all on the principal” . They will probably be turds about it.
They were turds when I wanted to cash a $20 check from my next door neighbor and she banks there and yeah, no, I’m not giving you all 10 fingerprints to cash a check drawn on your bank. Pfft. I swapped it for cash at HEB.
As for interest, the HEB credit union is paying something stunning and brave like .01 %. I might as well put the cash in a mason jar and stash that in the attic. Frost Bank was paying .2% but they went up to .8% a few months ago.
I’ve been getting credit card applications lately. Yeah, no annual fee and all but, for real, 29% interest? Nope, not gonna.
For current savings account / CD rates, check out this place https://www.bankrate.com/banking/savings/average-savings-interest-rates/
For instance, Capital One has a savings account with 3.5% rate. THe site lets you adjust your zip code and deposit amount.
Another failed Jesus Candidate Wannabe.
Abrams has a payola book in Barnes & Noble right now. I saw a stack of copies prominent on the first table in the door at the McAllen store on Saturday.
Barnes & Noble is back in a serious way thanks to Manga, however. That section was bigger than Sci Fi.
Ally Bank is offering 3.90% on savings. A local credit union is offering 4.65% on an 18 month certificate.
Is the Fed totally out of Ally at this point?
Geesh, Ally. This isn’t going to end well.
On the subject of how long stored food lasts. I found some UHT orange juice in tetrapak containers dated late 2017. When poured out it was a dark brownish colour! So I now know that 5 years storage is over the top.
They are still FDIC insured.
One of my credit unions is offering 3.5% for 7 months for a $10,000 Certificate. The other has nothing over 2%.
Guess where I’m moving some money tomorrow.
The more I read, the more I like:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/lauren-boebert-american-gun-ownership-report-b2274186.html
especially when I read comments from this kind of squish:
https://www.19fortyfive.com/2023/03/lauren-boebert-is-a-special-kind-of-stupid/
What’s frustrating is people like this attorney from Oregon that cannot comprehend “shall not be infringed”.
But it’s amusing that he’s calling Beobert “a special kind of stupid” when he himself can provide the evidence for “right-wing fears that liberals are coming to take Americans guns away”, proving that he, himself is just a pedestrian kind of liberal stupid.
Coincidentally, I had emails today offering pre-order for the new G!@ck ref!ex triggurz. Given the most recent proof of the mendacity of the ATree-F and the FJB administration I can’t imagine anyone in their right mind making such a purchase and leaving a dead-tree trail.
*I didn’t look at the study, but given that the billions of people in communist countries have always been disarmed by the commies, and that those billions have been joined by the Canadians, Australians, British, and other countries not formerly known to be brain-dead, 46% doesn’t seem out of the ball park on the face of it. The missing link in most of the articles quoting Boebert is that the study also claims that the more we buy, the more people in other countries buy. So, yeah, if buying more toys gets people in other countries to stock up on the means to resist oppression by their governments, I’m all for it.
>> re illegal immigration, President SteveF would announce a pardon for anyone convicted of killing an illegal alien or anyone hiring an illegal alien. I imagine they’d self-deport about fifteen minutes after that announcement, at no cost to the government.
Could we at least get reimbursed for ammo?
Nah, we should be able to get enough money from selling the harvested organs. If a person can get to the corpse fast enough and does not damage valuable tissue with shot.
The Treasury held a huge chunk of Ally’s stock for a while, but it looks like they were out of it by the end of 2014.
Ally is the old GMAC.
Still sorting emails:
“What’s your backup solution?” from Machine Design probably means something different than the same title from some other hobbyist sources.
@Lynn
I must have missed the backgound on this:
“ I am owed $33K at closing according to the agreement.”
and am not familiar with Texas real estate law, but it sounds like such an agreement should be recorded.
@Lynn
Same here. One of my four is Hyperion, which I tossed after a few pages.
So Livingston is planning a separate series list, but let’s series books be on this list?
Foundation
Neuromancer
I, Robot
Hyperion
The Forever War
Ender’s Game
Ringworld
Old Man’s War
The Mote n God’s Eye
Rendevous with Rama
Dune
11/25 = 44%
Is there anything he can’t screw up?
75 Years of Movies: The Defining Film of Each Year, 1945-2019, According to New Arena
https://www.listchallenges.com/75-years-of-movies-the-defining-film-of-each
A list of iconic movies without a doubt. Not sure why it starts in 1945. It has been updated to 2022, but that list seems to be mired in the clickbait version for now.
Two misses for sure:
1964: Goldfinger
1977: Saturday Night Fever
if “defining” is contemporaneously, not retrospectively.
For those who lived 1964 and 1977, Goldfinger and SNF defined those years. It seems problematic to define a year by a film viewed much later on cable, VHS and DVD when those media did not exist when the film came out. A Wonderful Life was on very few radars in 1946, was considered a failure and almost ruined Capra until later genrations re-evaluated it. Does it “define” 1946?
There are probably others, particularly in the early years.
In no particular order:
And a classic many over look: The Girl, the Gold Watch and Everything, by John D. MacDonald
Plus one by an author not known for science fiction: Saturn Run, by John Sanford
>> Sink the ships. Mine the border. Declare open season on illegal border crossers. Mass arrests and deportations of any illegal aliens. Huge fines for people hiring illegals. Quit granting refugee status to economic refugees. Disallow remits (or tax at 50% or more). Reverse birthright citizenship. Require fluent English for a) legal immigration status and especially b) naturalized citizenship. Restore pre-1965 immigration quotas and requirements: English language, sponsors, health screening, background checks.
Can we add one-way gates, moats and…well, you get the picture. Oh, and $2 bleacher seats.
@Lynn
I must have missed the backgound on this:
“ I am owed $33K at closing according to the agreement.”
and am not familiar with Texas real estate law, but it sounds like such an agreement should be recorded.
It will be recorded once everyone has signed and the exhibits are completed.
>> The layoffs will continue until the company is profitable.
Maybe a less expensive CEO would help??
https://www.pcmag.com/news/meta-gives-mark-zuckerberg-an-extra-4-million-for-personal-security
Wrong, bucko. If you look at the racial and ethnic breakdown of violent crimes in the US, we have a problem with blacks and hispanics committing violence, with and without guns.
If you dig further into reports, you’ll see that another leading purveyor of gun violence in the US is police and other government actors. To be clear, I’m not talking about a SWAT sniper shooting a man holding a gun to a hostage’s head or other clearly justifiable shootings. I’m talking about the shootings which would have me charged with murder if I’d done them: shooting an unarmed man who “made a suspicious move”, shooting into an unmoving motor vehicle which looked like one recently used in a high-speed chase, and so on.