world competitive day and age! Well, let's see.....Newport
Voices broke the top 20 a few weeks ago....we jetted in
there at 17th spot. It seemed shocking that just a few half
way informed people could have others pay attention. Well,
the good news is that Newport Voices is up to 15th this week.
What next? Will we soon be challenging the big boyz in the
top 5 soon? It maybe a little too early to pat ourselves on
the back just yet. What it does do is send a message that
"people like knowing the truth"! The best they can anyway!
OK, as a way of saying thank you to the Blogging Gods and of
course Blognetnews.com who arbitrarily assigns these numbers
on a weekly basis - here goes!
Understanding that "all politics is local"....according to
that famous Congressman from Boston, Tip O'Neil..let us begin
with some neighborly observations. Have you noticed that
there are a lot of places for rent recently? Prime locations
that would normally be gobbled up in two days are now taking
weeks..sometimes months to be rehabitated. Oh sure, the Rehab
houses are always full, but we are talking about regular
rental units. Maybe it's just those after summer blues...or
something. Then comes the places that are for Sale. How is
that Real Estate Market in Newport Beach anyway? How bad can
it be? Well, according to recent reports.. it is going to
take 20.7 months to sell your house "on average" in Newport
Beach. Now, don't you just hate those average numbers? They
say Newport Coast is still one of the hotter Markets with just
14.7 months from putting your yard sign out until Escrow closes.
Wonder why they still separate Newport Coast from the rest of
us? But then, who wants to move out of Newport Beach anyway?
Now, let's talk about the economy and why things may be a
little slower market wise. As everyone knows, we live in a
Global Economy where the days of Stocks and Bonds and Real
Commodities have given way to more virtual investment tools
like Hedge and Derivative Funds, Virtual Equities and Bonded
Indebtedness! Whew....who knows about this stuff? Guess we
will have to find a newer copy of "What they didn't teach you
at Harvard Business School!" to make it in this day and age.
You may have heard about the so-called Sub-Prime meltdown,
rising interest rates or hog belly futures! What it all boils
down to is: when you use bio-engineered corn to make gasoline
or corn-a-hol...well, the cost of feeding animals goes up
geometrically. That corn feed is now going to cost farmers
double or triple. Whoops, there goes the cost of food..at
Gelsons or Lido Market! Butter, Beef, Chicken, Pork and Milk
...at least!
Meanwhile, remember when we had the Latin American Financial
meltdown in the 80's? No, they didn't advertise much on that,
but we did have to go into Panama to take over the banks from
Manuel Noreiga! Who has that guy in jail now that we have
released him? Then there was that pesky Russian free fall of
their economy after the fall of the wall. We had to have World
Bank and the IMF (International Monetary Fund) lend them enough
cash and forgive it of course...to keep them going. Have they
paid us back yet? Then we had the famous blow out of Mexican
economy during the Clinton years and had to lend them and forgive
it.....in the billions to keep them going. And finally, we had
the Asian Tiger crisis when half the world went into depression
and the other half had to bail them out! Well, don't look now
but this meltdown has grown like Topsy and it is the biggest one
of all. All those "virtual investment tools" may be just that
"virtual"...not real at all. Billions and billions and billions
of hard earned cash are being pumped into Institutional Banks
and divested into the Stock Market and hard Commodities markets
as we speak, to avoid a terrible - dare we say it: Crash! When
it starts to affect Pension and Health Benefits...it might be
something we might want to rectify!
So, by now you must think this is pretty serious. Well, right
you are! Even Congressman John Campbell mentions his concern
on this issue in his latest Newsletter. There will be lots and
lots of people with Sub-Prime Real Estate Loans that will lose
their homes. If you have not been paying attention...there is
truly a "Credit Freeze" going out there in the markets. There
will be lots and lots of "Virtual Hedge and Derivative Funds"
that will be going belly up and people will most likely lose
all but 10 percent of their money ...and that will be if they
are lucky. You see, the Hedge and Derivative Market is upwards
of 20 Trillion dollars deep! If those markets take the big dive
...there will be many who are hurt and will have to adjust.
Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson puts it this way in today's
Financial Times: "The crisis of confidence in credit markets
is likely to last longer than previous shocks of the past two
decades!" The European Central Bank President Jean- Claude
Trichet warned: "it is time for Global Financial Authorities
to tackle the unregulated entities whose activities have
contributed to the latest upheavals!" "We expect this period
of turbulence to go on for a while!" he said. "The reason the
recovery is going to take longer is that we're more globalized!"
Paulson said.
Now, back to some rather disturbing news: LAPD Chief Bill Bratton
is implementing a new policy effective today: "If you get stopped
in LA and don't have a drivers license with you - your car will be
impounded!" "Don't leave home without it!" - really applies to your
drivers license if you are going to LA.
Now, back to some other rather disturbing news: Cal-Trans is
considering charging "Congestion Pricing" for people in Car Pool
lanes! Yikes! Meanwhile, over in Great Britain they are really
fighting this methodology..because once they got the cameras up
on the highways....it just took a few months until they started
using those cameras for speeding violations, reckless driving
and emission standards! The problem is - they keep raising the
fees and fines! The Brits claim they need those cameras to fight
terrorism! Robert Poole of the Reason Foundation keeps sticking
his fork in the hot air balloon! We suggest..he stop that right
now!
So, our thanks to Blognetnews.com! They have acknowledged the
Newport Voices has some value....and that is very kind. We feel
honored to be included on Newport Voices and hope that whatever
we offer can at least make a few people think! So, Tip O'Neil
was right..."All politics is local!" Dan Rostonkowski also
said: "If my constituients don't want me to buy a present for
my grandson with the House Postal Funds....well, they can just
vote me out!" Chriss Street also said: "I'm going to be working
with these people for years!"
So much for prognostication!
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