| Stimulus deal promising; housing risks still plentiful
Wall Street loves slogans. One of the most popular is: Don't fight the Fed.
If the Federal Reserve is lowering rates, the saying goes, investors should go with the flow, buy stocks, and sooner or later benefit from the ability of consumers and businesses to borrow money at lower interest rates.
In theory, both consumers and businesses can't resist the urge to borrow at enticing rates. So with rates down, they spend money on everything from sweaters to vacations to computers and business equipment. Then companies benefit from rising sales and profits. And because stocks in theory rise based on company profits, the low interest rates the Fed sets in motion generally end up giving the stock market a boost.
.
Say No To The Vocoder
No matter who becomes President, this election year is sure to bring change in Washington. Both parties are presenting candidates who want to learn from the mistakes of the Bush years and regain America's standing throughout the world. Today, the Hip-Hop community represents an ever expanding range of backgrounds, ethnicities and experiences, so we have a responsibility to combine our vast resources to correct what may be the biggest tragedy of the last several years: the resurgence of the Vocoder. To be fair, the worst offenders actually use variations on the device like the Sonovox and Autotuner, but all of them are children of this mighty beast. Once an innocent vocal effect to help sing a song of love between a boy and his computer, the Vocoder family has since become a studio trick to cover up the fact that many of today's Pop singers can't actually sing (like, at all).
Follow the Reader 2007: The rest of the world, from Bali to Scottish ...
We've rented cottages four times in Devon, England's southwestern county noted for clotted cream, gorgeous countryside, famous seafarers such as Drake and Raleigh, and now local organic foods. One cottage was a thatched, 13th century granite farmhouse on the edge of Dartmoor National Park; two were in Chagford, a village surrounded by wonderful hiking country and small shops supplying high-quality foods. Our most recent stay in April was in an 18th century thatched cottage in Budleigh Salterton, a small seaside town on the Jurassic Coast, a World Heritage site. All the cottages have gardens and are well equipped and comfortable. Chagford is a lively village with a 14th century church. Most traffic is on foot, and you're as likely to hear horses clopping down the street as automobiles.
U.S. new home sales plunge
If everybody in a given country has a roof over his head such that no new energy or materiel needs to go into further home building, then labour and capital that would otherwise go there is freed up for other uses. Wealth and quality of life increases as a consequence.
All the hand-wringing about no need for new houses is silly. What if a new form of all-but-free energy was found, such that no one would be buying oil. Would that be so awful? Maybe for OPEC, but the rest of us could then use the $1800 we spend each year on gasoline to buy other stuff - nicer clothing, nice rakes and shovels and ladders for our homes, maybe a nice set of new dishes.
I don't get it. Posted 28/12/07 at 2:13 PM EST | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment .
|
