NorthSideSox72

QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Aug 17, 2007 -> 07:56 AM) Yesterday SI was reporting that the Feds told Vick "If you dont take this plea, the superceding indictment is coming down", but they seem to have backed off that right now. Does anyone believe that Vick will be banned for life from the NFL? If the NFL has any actual interest in trying to change the thug image its been acquiring lately, they will give him a suspension AFTER he is released from jail, at LEAST equal to the length of his sentence. For example, if he gets 2 years in prison... suspend him 2 years after that. And if he gets in trouble in the interim... banned for life. Ideally he gets banned for life. But that is unlikely.

QUOTE(Steff @ Aug 17, 2007 -> 08:50 AM) 5 years 90 mil. Wow. Makes the MB deal look even more awesome.

QUOTE(klaus kinski @ Aug 17, 2007 -> 08:34 AM) My question is who is evaluating the great evaluator Ken Williams? All of Soxtalk.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Aug 17, 2007 -> 09:07 AM) So let the government do it? There are exactly three groups to pay for this. Government Employers Individuals Which one has the best chance to control costs, have everyone covered, and offer choices for those that can afford it? As you pointed out, everyone does have coverage of some sort via our safety net and not allowing people to just suffer and die. You missed the two other big players - insurance companies, and health care companies.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Aug 17, 2007 -> 07:42 AM) The Fed cut the discount rate (not the federal funds rate) this morning by a half point... everyone's starting to really panic. And now that everyone is panicking, the markets are rallying. S&P up over 2% so far.

QUOTE(jasonxctf @ Aug 17, 2007 -> 08:47 AM) http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...&refer=home And they got nailed for it. Good. That's actually better news than a lot of the fraud and waste going on in Iraq tht HASN'T been addressed.

I just want to interject here and say that I am impressed - we've got a 4 page, very involved discussion of the Bible's takes on homosexuality, and its been remarkably civil. Well done. Carry on.

Wow. Major indices have now regained all their day's losses, and are now up around a half percent on the day (after being down as much as 2.5%). People running the VIX desks must be having a field day. Same for the CDS markets lately.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Aug 16, 2007 -> 01:44 PM) I hate to say it, but I'm probably about 3-4 years away from actually being able to purchase a home because I'll finally be done with the Ph.D. and looking for something tenure track...and I couldn't be happier about the timing of this. Home price shifts usually take years to work their way entirely through the market and to hit everywhere, and this one will probably be no different, so with a little bit of luck, I'll be able to hop in at the bottom. Also, I will note one other thing...while the credit crunch is only directly hitting those groups you mention, the real risk has always been in the indirect results of it. An awful lot of the recent economic expansion has been done on the expansion of credit; real wages have barely changed in the last 6 years or so since the dot com bubble burst, but consumer spending has kept going up and up and up, and so much of that has been done because of the easy access to low interest credit. Something like 10-12% of the economy I believe directly deals with home sales, construction, etc., and then beyond that, you have the people taking out equity to purchase new items, new appliances, new things for the home, etc., and if this crunch really winds up finally contracting the credit market a bit, it might well finally be the thing that slows down the consumer spending binge. Oh I agree about the artificially strong recovery from the 02-03 recession being fueled by equity cash - I've even said that in here multiple times before, as I am sure you know (though some disagree). And you are right, a big chunk of the economy is housing related. I'm just pointing out that if you have been smart with your money, and as long as you aren't employed in the housing industry, you might actually make out pretty well the next few years. I mean, as far as I can see, we appear to be looking at a trend of housing prices bottoming before a recovery of some degree (as you mention), and after this major correction in the markets, we'll probably see stability at least for a while, before an eventual increase (just a question of when). So for those of us thinking long term, this is a buying opportunity. By the way, be careful of that California real estate. That market was (and in some places still is) absurdly overinflated, and I'd be very, very cautious about how and where you invest your real estate dollars.

Just something to consider here... for those who have good credit and at least a little bit of equity (or cash) available, this credit crunch is not a bad thing at all. In fact, it will create lower rates for those with good credit. Plus with values having gone down or leveled, people are staying in their homes longer in response (and developers are slowing down dramatically), so values should stabilize and even increase soon. This credit crunch issue is really only directly effecting those with bad credit, those who were over-leveraged, and the mortgage industry. Patience.

QUOTE(StrangeSox @ Aug 16, 2007 -> 12:13 PM) She went to court with proof of her hospitalization, but she didn't have proof that the construction zone was BS. They were not lenient at all. That sucks. Sorry to hear that. I still recommend people go to court, if they can. Chances are good you'll help yourself out. If you just pay the fine, you have zero chance of getting a better outcome.

Holy Crap. Major indices down about 2.5%, DJIA now 150 points below the 10% loss line. And most of that has come in a little over a week. When was the last time the markets lost this much, even on a relative basis, in a couple weeks? I'm not even sure it was that dramatic in the days after 9/11 (though in that case, the major US markets were closed for a few days).

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Aug 16, 2007 -> 08:59 AM) Nope. It was going west into Chicago on the Skyway at (nearly) the Stoney Island Exit. It was two years ago. They had signs up for construction, for about 1/2 mile... I don't even think they were doing anything at all at the time. But it was absolutely Chicago PD. OK. I believe you, its just very unusual.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Aug 16, 2007 -> 08:03 AM) It was Chicago PD. For sure. It was west of the Skyway Bridge and the tollbooth. That's bizarre. How many years ago was this? Chicago PD gave up traffic control on the interstates a long time ago. The only time you see them out there is to get from A to B (and, I suppose, if they witness a felony in commision or something). I've never seen CPD pull someone over on the interstate. Did they get you for something that happened before you got on?

First time Lin has actually pitched a bad game this year. Also the first time he has come out of the pen since his opening appearance. I wonder if that is coincidence.

fly fly, little starling.

QUOTE(GoSox05 @ Aug 15, 2007 -> 04:22 PM) I would be pissed too if someone called me a nappy headed ho on one of the biggest radio shows in the country. Whatever. Nappy headed ho. I kid.

QUOTE(StrangeSox @ Aug 15, 2007 -> 09:53 PM) Similar story happened to my mom's friend. She was going up 55 back towards Chicago from central Illinois. She passed through a mile long "construction zone" that was nothing but two signs saying "construction starts" and "construction ends." She had severe stomach pains and just wanted to get home and maybe to the doctor. She was pulled over by the police and ticketed for speeding in a construction zone (10 or 15 over the limit). She did end up going to the doctor and needed emergency surgery to remove her appendix. They still wouldn't throw the ticket out and she was forced to pay $500. Did she go to court with proof? If so, I'd think they would have been lenient. But I guess you never know. I always tell people, you should go to court if you can on ANY traffic violation. There is a good chance that you will get off, or get a much lower penalty than you normally would have. Not always, but often.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Aug 15, 2007 -> 10:26 PM) I got my "construction zone by sign only" ticket on the skyway a couple years ago... nice people, those CPD people are. Wouldn't have been CPD on the Skyway - State Patrol. CPD hasn't had traffic jurisdiction on the expressways in a couple decades, they gave it up to the state.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Aug 15, 2007 -> 03:25 PM) Hell, even Little Dick Durbin says the surge is working. What now? http://www.nysun.com/article/60135 You're not serious. Here is his direct quote: Which the NY Sun writer somehow stretches into the idea that Durbin thinks the surge is working? He isn't even talking about the surge. This is nothing more than laughably bad journalism. And before you come back with "see, you can read anything into it you'd like", lets at least try to stick to reality. Read that quote and tell me how that says the surge is working. You, my friend, seem to be in denial of the factual reality in Iraq.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Aug 15, 2007 -> 02:55 PM) So how are people who know more than me reacting to breaking through 13k? Fortunately, I am a long term investor, so for me, this is just a good buying opportunity on the way up later. As for what it "means", who knows? The markets are a fairly efficient, rational system, but the shorter timeframe you look at, the less rational they appear to act.

Jeez, markets taking another hit today. Major indeces all down more than 1% again. DJIA down almost 1000 points since just a week ago! That's a roughly 8% drop in value in a week. S&P down almost a hundred, an almost 7% loss, again in just a week. Yikes. Funny thing though... the market was probably overbought on fundamentals anyway, so a correction was coming. But it wasn't the fundamentals that caused this - it was the credit and mortgage panic. Funny how the market finds a way towards center, even if for the wrong reasons. I am not sure if it needed THIS much of a correction, though.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Aug 15, 2007 -> 02:32 PM) Because you can cherry pick #'s all day long and make them tell you anything you want them to. I could go find some #'s right now that says the violence is subsiding... but it won't matter. 1. Please do. I haven't seen a single number that says something positive. There probably are some... can you provide one? 2. Cherry pick? Its a simple measure - civilian deaths per month. How on earth is that cherry picking? Cherry picking would be saying "deaths in the X sector" or "deaths attributable to car bombs". No, this is a nice simple measure, and its got a negative result.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Aug 15, 2007 -> 02:29 PM) And it all, as always, depends on what you want to believe. Here's the bottom line. IF things were better, most people don't want to believe it anyway, and pretty much outright dismiss it as "BushCo lying again". I've heard it more then once in the last week, plus the instant EVERYTHING SUCKS IN IRAQ quotes that appear here on a daily basis. I'm not saying it's all rose smelling poop or anything over there, in fact, quite the opposite... but ANY traction and gain we get on anything over there is a sign that things could turn around, if given the chance. But, since everyone is so gung ho to "lose" and "get the ef out of there"... nothing positive is going to matter to you people. Tell me... how is it that a rising or stable death toll can be seen as a positive for stability? I fail to see how that aspect has anything to do with "what you want to believe".

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Aug 15, 2007 -> 01:48 PM) Yahoo for the official version McClatchey for the usually more correct challenge of the official version: Ech. Doesn't sound any better to me.