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One of my hobbies is collecting old electric trains. Most of these are either Lionel, American Flyer, or Ives from the 1920's and 1930's. Recently I have started a web page with lots of photos. Many a young boy and girl were inspired by these old train sets. Charles Lindbergh had one, and I...

Just completed a Refi using the Harp 2 program. It took four months but was successful. Saved about $300 a month on a rental property that is under water. If you are wondering if this can be done, well, it can. b.

Any one else ever get the 20-something, "condescending attitude"? I thought this went away after my friend Tom finally confronted his daughter's boyfriend with, "Son, do you know what I do for a living?" At the time, we both were working on the latest "Star Wars" and could make these guys think...

How many of you have a glass of water by your bed? Mine is there now, but wasn't there when I was in my thirties. So. what's the deal? Are we drying out or what? boont

I was recently looking into refinancing one of my properties when I discovered that the bank that made the original loan (Citibank) never filed their lien with the county. The property is listed as free and clear and owned by me. The bank also can not come up with any paperwork. This is a...

One of my properties has come up for rental. In reviewing people who have applied to rent, there is a lawyer. I'm thinking I would be foolish to rent to a lawyer. Does anyone have any experience with this or an opinion? I have a relative who rented to a woman who's ex was a lawyer. She...

I'm not recommending this but since the law has changed you should know about it. In fact, this is a sales pitch, not mine, but something I read. Having said that it might work for some people. "Suppose you were interested in moving out of your larger, more expensive home that you could sell...

In California we have Prop. 13 which limits property taxes to about 1% of the assessed value and limit yearly increases to approximately 2% of same. But we also have Pops. 60 and 90 which allow a person over the age of 55 to transfer his Prop 13 capped property tax to a new house in the same...

Can you describe what you think would be happening in America right now if the real estate and stock markets had not dropped? In other words, if things simply continued on as if the world today was like the spring that led up to the summer of 2005. I sold some real estate in summer 2005, and...

I was saying to the wife the other day that I thought this downturn might be a little different than the real old ones. For instance, I think that it may harm the Harvard endowment crowd a lot more than the working stiff. I always judge this against the last several episodes. Like in 1987 and...

In his latest newsletter PIMCO chief Bill Gross points out that we were all trained by a 25-year secular bull market to buy on dips. But he says,"those that define it by 'dip buying' or a secular time frame encompassing only the past quarter century, are certainly self-limiting and perhaps...

[Moderator edit, see also post #10] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/3242927/Dollar-roars-back-as-global-debts-are-called-in.html

Doug Kass, Street.Com A combination of a higher U.S. dollar and Japanese yen, the vortex of selling and unwinding of long commodities positions (by pension plans and endowments, corporations, hedge funds and managed commodity funds) and renewed evidence of a deepening recession have served to...

The last day of a quarter "means deadline day for thousands of hedge funds which now owe payments to those investors who have requested a redemption. Here's a quick run down on redemptions: Redemption Notice Periods: Most hedge funds have 45-65 day redemption notice periods. This means...

"Shortly after the New York Stock Exchange opens on the Morning of October 24, stock prices begin to drop dramatically and the volume of trading breaks all previous records. By 11:30 a.m. panic selling prevails as more and larger blocks of stock are thrown on the market. The ticket tape that...

Remember PMI? You know private mortage insurance. People paid Billions and Billions of dollars into these policies. It's been going on as long as I remember, at least 40 years. What was it's purpose? Well, to protect the lender... Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) is insurance that protects...

Nouriel Roubini is the subject of a recent interview on the Charlie Rose show. A conversation with Nouriel Roubini - Charlie Rose Roubini pretty much called the whole mess some time ago. Of course, no one listened except to cleverly labeled him Dr. Doom. They are now broke and discredited...

What's your take on the market's meltdown? Bogle: We've had this orgy of speculation and it's crowded out intelligent investing. I'm certain we're in a recession and I'm certain it's going to get worse. But we have to get back to investing and not focusing minute by minute. What's ridiculous...

I keep reading how impossible it is to time the market. Most advisors say,"The smartest investors in history have not been able to successfully time the markets." Well, I'm far from a smart investor, by a long shot. The chief complaint seems to be that, "you will never know when to get back in...

Summary and Investment Conclusions Future economic textbooks will likely teach that while capitalism is the most dynamic and productive system ever conceived, it is most efficient when there is a delicate balance between private incentive and government oversight. The benevolent fist of...

Draft Proposal on Financial Rescue Legislation Office of Speaker Nancy Pelosi -- September 28, 2008 "The government can use its power as the owner of mortgages and mortgage backed securities to facilitate loan modifications (such as, reduced principal or interest rate, lengthened time to pay...

Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor who foresaw the credit crisis, described the turmoil in the financial markets an "economic Pearl Harbor" that required immediate action by politicians. Piling pressure on Congress, amid growing rancour over the terms of a $700bn bailout for the financial...

My wife informed me this morning that she heard that Buffett had for all intents and purposes endorsed Obama. How did I miss that? This is all I could find on the subject so far... May 5, 2008, on-the-fly interview with Buffett carried by CNBC. The interviewer, Becky Quick, asked Buffett to...

NYTimes, Sept.19,2008 "Mr. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. had made an urgent and unusual evening visit to Capitol Hill, and they were gathered around a conference table in the offices of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. "The congressional leaders were told,"that we're...

In researching the definition of credit default swaps I came up with this little beauty. This is partially from the British Bankers Association Credit Derivites Report by way of Wikipedia and a banking dictionary. "Derivatives, such as credit default swaps also create major distortions in the...