Investment Jungle is currently hosting the Festival of Stocks #38.
He actually read all the posts and gave his own opinions on them! Great Job! Check them out.
Food And Drug Chief Gets Death
China sentenced its ex-food and drug chief to death for accepting bribes.
Quite a harsh punishment for accepting $800,000 in bribes. Pity the US doesn't have laws like that. It would do wonders for the integrity of system. Here we've become conditioned to accept that politicians will lie and accept bribes and grant favors to people who grease their palms.
I'm against capital punishment because the cost of error is too high. However, in the case of politicians, I'm willing to make an exception. Corrupt politicians should be given the death penalty or reduced sentences for lesser crimes.
Some of the other possible sentences could be
1. Asset confiscation and a life as a social worker on a $24,000 salary. No other income or jobs permitted.
2. Public flogging
3. Exile to a deserted island.
4. Neutering
What do you guys think?
Quite a harsh punishment for accepting $800,000 in bribes. Pity the US doesn't have laws like that. It would do wonders for the integrity of system. Here we've become conditioned to accept that politicians will lie and accept bribes and grant favors to people who grease their palms.
I'm against capital punishment because the cost of error is too high. However, in the case of politicians, I'm willing to make an exception. Corrupt politicians should be given the death penalty or reduced sentences for lesser crimes.
Some of the other possible sentences could be
1. Asset confiscation and a life as a social worker on a $24,000 salary. No other income or jobs permitted.
2. Public flogging
3. Exile to a deserted island.
4. Neutering
What do you guys think?
Put Your Mortgage On Your Credit Card & Earn Rewards
American Express has now announced that it will allow borrowers to put their mortgage on their amex cards get earn points!
Its great for AMEX because some of the borrowers will be late and incur penalties of 15-28%! Of course of the savvy ones will also earn a lot more reward points than they normally could.
If I could put all my rental properties on this program, I could probably earn a free ticket to anywhere in the world every year! I'm not a big fan of this idea in principle, but a free ticket is enticing.
Anyway, you can read more about it here.
Its great for AMEX because some of the borrowers will be late and incur penalties of 15-28%! Of course of the savvy ones will also earn a lot more reward points than they normally could.
If I could put all my rental properties on this program, I could probably earn a free ticket to anywhere in the world every year! I'm not a big fan of this idea in principle, but a free ticket is enticing.
Anyway, you can read more about it here.
Average Home Size Increasing
According to this article, McMansions gain popularity despite the housing slump, national new home sizes are averaging 2,400 sq ft!
Thats a huge increase from about 40 years ago. In the sixties, the average home was about 1100 sq ft with 3 bedrooms and 1 bath.
As the standard of living keeps growing I can understand the need for more living space, however after a point it becomes ridiculous. It seems difficult to understand that 20% of all new home construction be for "atleast 4 bedroom homes" when the average family size is 2.6. Somehow I can't see that the economy has been growing all that much in the past several years where people can afford to upgrade to such large houses.
I can't help but wonder how many buyers got an option-ARM loan or an interest-only adjustable mortgage and can't really afford to buy it with a "traditional" 20% down 30 year amortized mortgage.
Also, as the cost of oil and gas increases, heating these homes will also become increasingly difficult.
I wouldn't be surprised to see the number of foreclosures sky-rocket over the next few years. According to what I heard from a friend, foreclosures in California for the 1st quarter 2007 are at 86,000. This is opposed to 800 for the entire year in 2006. (I haven't verified the numbers at all, but I believe the trend).
Thats a huge increase from about 40 years ago. In the sixties, the average home was about 1100 sq ft with 3 bedrooms and 1 bath.
American homes, on average, are nearly twice as large as those in many European countries, including Britain, France and Germany. Only Luxembourg comes close among European nations, with average homes about three-quarters the size of those in the United States.
U.S. homes are also becoming more expensive. The median home value jumped more than 40 percent form 1990 to 2005, to about $167,500.
As the standard of living keeps growing I can understand the need for more living space, however after a point it becomes ridiculous. It seems difficult to understand that 20% of all new home construction be for "atleast 4 bedroom homes" when the average family size is 2.6. Somehow I can't see that the economy has been growing all that much in the past several years where people can afford to upgrade to such large houses.
I can't help but wonder how many buyers got an option-ARM loan or an interest-only adjustable mortgage and can't really afford to buy it with a "traditional" 20% down 30 year amortized mortgage.
Also, as the cost of oil and gas increases, heating these homes will also become increasingly difficult.
I wouldn't be surprised to see the number of foreclosures sky-rocket over the next few years. According to what I heard from a friend, foreclosures in California for the 1st quarter 2007 are at 86,000. This is opposed to 800 for the entire year in 2006. (I haven't verified the numbers at all, but I believe the trend).
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