Financial topics

[Higgenbotham]

Nomi Prins does a nice job of capturing the mentality of the Achiever Type in this hypothetical interchange. Nomi worked for Goldman and based on her work record obviously had the ability to compete with the Achiever types, despite not having the same motivations. I also recall her saying in an interview that the corporate finance world was always about making the next deal with no greater over arching motivation other than maximizing the deals.

https://books.google.com/books?id=nSo4w ... ns&f=false

[Higgenbotham]

This will work out fine. Not having a written lease as the transition is made to a lease renewal or a move is to my advantage. Also, the best time to renew a lease is February because prices are the lowest here at that time of year. So having them "extend" it from December 31 to February 28 also works to my advantage.

Back to the Gen X Debacles, which continue on a daily basis.

About a month ago, I was informed there would be an inspection of my apartment on December 5. To say I received notice (as required by law) is a stretch since the "notice" was received by e-mail. December 5 came and went with nobody showing up (typical Gen X management). The afternoon of December 6 there was a knock on the door. I answered and mentioned to the manager's rep that I thought they were supposed to be here yesterday (they cannot enter without giving lawful notice, which they did not). I invited him in anyway and explained to him that since the carpet and fixtures are all depreciated out it would be in their best interest to keep my rent below the market. About 3 weeks later I got another email saying my rent for the coming year will remain at the same rate.

[Higgenbotham]

Subject: Power Outage 1/3/18

Dear Resident(s):

Today we experienced a property wide power outage for over two hours, however it has recently been restored. We were advised that an 18-wheeler hit a main power line on (redacted).

We appreciate your patience and apologize for any inconvenience!

Regards,
(Redacted) Management

[Higgenbotham]

Stage 4 — Normalization. Those who understand the forum understand the current deception from the Andropov file thread.

H seen it very early and did a few others from the translation’s.

Fri Sep 14, 2012 7:42 pm

Here's how I would put it. What we are seeing here is civilizational collapse. The authorities are trying to pretend it isn't happening. My take has been when a civilization goes into that mode for whatever reason, the unthinkable becomes thinkable.

The intent of these press conferences in my opinion is to discuss abnormal and previously unthinkable situations and "normalize" them for public consumption. Now let's fast forward a few months or years to the point when gasoline does get to $6, auto sales have crashed, and VMT is perhaps 80% of what it is today. A reporter may ask Bernanke about that and the response would be, well, yes, gasoline will remain high but, yes, there are alternatives like bicycles and walking that many people do and there is public transportation in some areas so for those who are not strong enough to bicycle, maybe they should consider locating on a bus line. And by that time, whatever happens along those lines will appear perfectly normal and logical to many people. At least, it will be reality, we can say that for sure.

Opinion: A quarter of American drivers might be better off using Uber or Lyft than owning a car

Published: Jan 2, 2018 8:39 a.m. ET

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/a-qua ... 2017-10-19

[Higgenbotham]

So you're better off getting a ride from somebody who really can't afford to give you a ride?

Here’s how much Uber drivers really make

Published: Dec 1, 2017 4:59 a.m. ET

Mr. Money Mustache became an Uber driver to see how much contractors make after expenses

In the past, Uber has claimed drivers in New York City make a median annual income of $90,000, but an independent analysis by loan company Earnest put the number much lower. Uber drivers make an average of $364 a month and a median of $155 a month driving for the ride-sharing company, according to the analysis. The average Uber driver in New York City takes home $25 an hour after commission and sales tax, Uber said in 2014.

However, after car costs such as gas and insurance and time spent driving around between picking up rides, Mr. Money Mustache said he took home only $7 an hour. He criticized the company for advertising gross earnings to drivers instead of net earnings. (Uber didn’t respond to a request for comment.)

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/heres ... 2017-12-01

[John]

> About a month ago, I was informed there would be an inspection of
> my apartment on December 5. To say I received notice (as required
> by law) is a stretch since the "notice" was received by
> e-mail. December 5 came and went with nobody showing up (typical
> Gen X management). The afternoon of December 6 there was a knock
> on the door. I answered and mentioned to the manager's rep that I
> thought they were supposed to be here yesterday (they cannot enter
> without giving lawful notice, which they did not). I invited him
> in anyway and explained to him that since the carpet and fixtures
> are all depreciated out it would be in their best interest to keep
> my rent below the market. About 3 weeks later I got another email
> saying my rent for the coming year will remain at the same
> rate.

Sounds like you got a good deal. Better than I got.

With respect to your comments about Uber drivers, do any of the
figures distinguish between people who work for Uber full time, versus
people who have a regular job and work part-time for Uber?

[Higgenbotham]

Sounds like you got a good deal. Better than I got.

With respect to your comments about Uber drivers, do any of the
figures distinguish between people who work for Uber full time, versus
people who have a regular job and work part-time for Uber?

I haven't seen any figures that make that distinction. My guess is it is difficult to distinguish due to what I've heard about how Uber works; for example, that virtually all the money some Uber drivers make is during peak times that premium rates are offered (like events). But that may only be true in certain locations like Austin. One of my coworkers in Austin told me she was picking up about 20K per year driving for Uber during peak times. I haven't heard anybody else corroborate that kind of figure.

[Higgenbotham]

Except that it has nothing to do with "Financial Topics". If Aeden
wants to post obscure, incomprehensible things like "Roma - magi -
indi scripts" about 600 year old documents known only to himself in
some other thread, then I have no objection, but not in this thread.

I set up the "Aeden's Forum" sub-forum, hoping that would solve the
problem, but apparently Aeden has chosen to simply ignore me, as if I
were a potted plant, and just go on using this thread as an apparent
garbage dump.

So I'm going to have to take some further step.

One possibility is to create a new thread under "Aeden's Forum," and
then move his last ten or so messages from this thread to the new
thread.

If anyone has a better suggestion, let me know.

I'm not sure my suggestion is better, but an alternative that I would propose and have illustrated is to require that all posts in the Financial Topics thread generally meet the following requirements:
1. Where the language does not clearly indicate the relationship to a Financial Topic, that the dots be connected within the post;
2. That the post can be understood by anyone with a level of intelligence in the top ~2-10% of the population who hasn't previously read through the Financial Topics thread.

If the moderator determines that a post or series of posts do not meet these standards, action may be taken such as requiring further explanation to the moderator's satisfaction up to banning the poster for repeated violations.

[John]

> I'm not sure my suggestion is better, but an alternative that I
> would propose and have illustrated is to require that all posts in
> the Financial Topics thread generally meet the following
> requirements:

> 1. Where the language does not clearly indicate the relationship
> to a Financial Topic, that the dots be connected within the post;

> 2. That the post can be understood by anyone with a level of
> intelligence in the top ~2-10% of the population who hasn't
> previously read through the Financial Topics thread.

> If the moderator determines that a post or series of posts do not
> meet these standards, action may be taken such as requiring
> further explanation to the moderator's satisfaction up to banning
> the poster for repeated violations.

I really don't like to ban people, though I could do that if someone
were repeatedly offensive and contemptuous of me and this forum.

However, I do have other tools, the main one being to transfer
offensive messages to other threads, and just let them sit there. I
had to do that in the early early days of this forum when someone
(probably Sean Love) was posting offensive messages into the Financial
Topics thread, and I moved them elsewhere each time he posted one.

[John]

The stock market DJIA is up 150 points so far today. Can we call it a
parabolic bubble yet?

On the other hand, the S&P 500 P/E ratio is 21.81.

http://www.wsj.com/mdc/public/page/2_30 ... dc_h_usshl

Down from 25 three months ago. Earnings must have been very good last
quarter.