More on housing affordability
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LunaticFringe wrote:
There is a much better option, been in use in Europe for over a decade, probably there too (artificial disk/disk replacement), but the FDA only approved it for use here I think 2 years ago now, and only a few insurers cover it.
My dad had that for two discs in his lower back a few years ago, of course that was through the nasty socialist NHS in Britain. Full recovery within 4 months, had a shunt in for a month or so. He had held out, as there is some risk of permanent damage, until he couldn't take it anymore. Said it made him feel 10 years younger.
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Yeah, I'm sure I'll feel a hell of a lot better when I get it done. And there's just no way I was going to have fusion. I'd never ride a road bike again if I did, and that was too high a price. Haven't been able to ride anyway, but at least I still may in the future.
L u n a t i c F r i n g e
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Because given sufficient reward vs. risk everyone cheats. All systems are gamed. The only impact of an individuals wealth is to modify the required reward, e.g. someone worth $10m is unlikely to place any value on risk in order to gain $10k.
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There was always a big problem with propping up the home buyers. Simply put they couldn't afford the mortgage they were servicing which led to no good subsidized exit. If they were bailed out on a temporary basis, i.e. monthly subsidy on payment, ultimately you've delayed the problem that they can't afford to service the mortgage (or frequently even maintain the property) until the subsidy is withdrawn. If you make it permanent then you've created a class of individuals permanently dependent on handouts to support a house they can't afford. Neither popular nor good policy, how would you define a cut off, for instance? If the mortgage is refinanced in part or fully paid then you create a class of individuals who have received a wonderful gift on behalf of the taxpayer. The problem is that membership of this class becomes an aspirational attainment, simply put you've shifted the moral hazard not eliminated it. Ultimately the collapse of the credit markets, let alone the collapse of the banking system, was always going to do more harm to more people then propping it up. Now's the time to make sure that those who profited by socialized risk do not get to do it again.
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MidwestLimey wrote:
There was always a big problem with propping up the home buyers. Simply put they couldn't afford the mortgage they were servicing which led to no good subsidized exit.
Which would be the point of re-working the terms and using the fed rate. I'm not saying we take the loans and charge them just as much as the banks where, I'm saying we take the loans, we balance the banks on the stupid loans given various required regulations on any future loans and find what they can pay. If it turns out they're effectively paying rent on their house for the rest of their lives, so be it, but eventually the cost could be recouped without expecting to get it back in taxes(after spending taxes to do it). I have no intention of making it permanent, it'd be a one shot thing and from then on any bank that made such loans would be shot. But to leave people victims of lying loan agents(I still have "Grow into the payments echoing in my head") and claim ethical superiority is bunk. I'm not trying to be ethical, I'm not trying to be nice, I'm trying to keep the market from imploding under it's own stupidity, and I'm trying to do it without further feeding the stupidity. I'd happily cut the payment to the banks to a fraction of the principle, but they'd never accept it, they'd rather take their chances putting it on the market.
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When I was going to buy my house and was getting qualified the bank to me I could get 250K. They're out of their minds. I had a budget and a monthly payment I wanted and that was it. This is where I think consumers start to get into trouble. If the bank, who should know best after all, says you can get a loan for X and afford it they're idiots. I all but told them so and left to go to another bank.
Christian Graus wrote:
I think a price crash will be a good thing overall, housing is probably getting too expensive, even in Australia's most affordable state. But, the real question is, how is it the fault of anyone bar the banks and people who borrow outside their means that a bubble was fed and will eventually burst ?
After your initial thread about this that was my conclusion. Even 11 acres in the country side isn't worth $600,000. I can get a lot more in Missouri for that than just 11 acres. It's not really any one person's fault that we have bubbles as near as I can tell. As long as we treat everything as a commodity to be exploited we're going to have bubbles. This includes people via wages and our health care through insurance premiums.
That's called seagull management (or sometimes pigeon management)... Fly in, flap your arms and squawk a lot, crap all over everything and fly out again... by _Damian S_
Had I $600k I think I'd be buying a chunk of MO for some viticulture, having read this earlier I'm still thinking of vineyards. Wine is certainly one enduring passion in my life.
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Christian Graus wrote:
I bring home $1198.92 a fornight from my wage, the payment to the bank for my home is $2516.00 a month
I would like to know how je does that! Of course its a spoof letter.
Morality is indistinguishable from social proscription
I would suggest that it means that he does not live alone.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
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Had I $600k I think I'd be buying a chunk of MO for some viticulture, having read this earlier I'm still thinking of vineyards. Wine is certainly one enduring passion in my life.
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MidwestLimey wrote:
having read this earlier I'm still thinking of vineyards.
Looked into it. Don't. Messy business.
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MidwestLimey wrote:
having read this earlier I'm still thinking of vineyards.
Looked into it. Don't. Messy business.
You thought about putting your acreage to use?
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You thought about putting your acreage to use?
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No, I thought about buying some existing acreage in Dorset. It was mostly orchard with some vineyard, which I thought might be a fun project. Closer investigation showed that the orchard made no money, and in fact lost it, whereas the vineyard could have been a winner, except it was tiny, had no standing in the grape-buying world (which I gather takes generations) and generally would have taken far more investment than it was worth to do anything about. Could have considered cider production, but the booze market is over saturated with "posh" cider at the moment and at the cheap end, you might as well not bother. Ultimately, making your own parsnip wine is probably more profitable!
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No, I thought about buying some existing acreage in Dorset. It was mostly orchard with some vineyard, which I thought might be a fun project. Closer investigation showed that the orchard made no money, and in fact lost it, whereas the vineyard could have been a winner, except it was tiny, had no standing in the grape-buying world (which I gather takes generations) and generally would have taken far more investment than it was worth to do anything about. Could have considered cider production, but the booze market is over saturated with "posh" cider at the moment and at the cheap end, you might as well not bother. Ultimately, making your own parsnip wine is probably more profitable!
I don't know about parsnips, but I do find homemade cider quite inebriating delectable.
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Pretty much. One minor issue has been holding me back for about the last year and a half and keeping me from riding, which would otherwise cure all my ills. :-D I need to get a couple of disks in my neck replaced, and the insurance coverage we've had for the last 7 years or so totally sucks (a big factor in our current predicament). The only option offered is fusion of the vertebrae. Don't know if you know anything about it, but it is not exactly a state of the art fix; irreversible and, at it's heart, really pretty primitive. There is a much better option, been in use in Europe for over a decade, probably there too (artificial disk/disk replacement), but the FDA only approved it for use here I think 2 years ago now, and only a few insurers cover it. However... one of the changes coming down in the next few weeks involves new insurance coverage on a really good plan for federal employees, from one of those few providers. And if it's covered (not sure yet), I definitely made the right choice by waiting for the right fix. :)
L u n a t i c F r i n g e
LunaticFringe wrote:
artificial disk/disk replacement
That one is scary to me. I don't like the idea of someone getting that close to my spinal cord. :~ But we will see what I think if the pain comes back/gets worse. :rolleyes:
Opacity, the new Transparency.
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ragnaroknrol wrote:
And it wasn't for lack of trying, trust me. We tried the hell out of it for #2 for a year. Not that I am complaining.
Yeah, quit yer bitchin', #3 wasn't exactly planned. My wife's just glad we didn't meet as teenagers ;)
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MidwestLimey wrote:
Because given sufficient reward vs. risk everyone cheats.
I think I have a problem with this initial premise. ;)
L u n a t i c F r i n g e
I don't know... it seems a lot like one of my sayings. Everything... EVERYTHING... can be bought for a price. It might be that the price is so high noone is willing to pay it, but everything can be bought.
I don't have ADHD, I have ADOS... Attention Deficit oooh SHINY!! If you like cars, check out the Booger Mobile blog | If you feel generous - make a donation to Camp Quality!!