Fun Stuff...Off Topic(O/T)

[billyjoe]

We've had rain 18 of the last 19 days beating a record from 1928. Today was the grand finale. This was just 4 miles south of me. All we had was .4 of rain and about 15 seconds of wind. There were funnel clouds just south of here but they're not calling it a tornado officially. http://www.sanduskyregister.com/medi...4270461/231046

---------------------billy

[riverbabe]

Pretty spectacular thunderstorms here every day and night, more expected today. Not good for DirectTV viewing! Everything over-soggy here. (east of billy) http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index...incart_m-rpt-2

[mimo_100]

price of gasoline analysis

http://www.amateur-investor.net/Weekend_Market_Analysis_July_20_2013.htm

[riverbabe]

price of gasoline analysis

http://www.amateur-investor.net/Week...ly_20_2013.htm

Fascinating! After reading this weekend about the manipulating of aluminum storage by GS, just confirms my previous high suspicions about gas prices. Thanks.

[Karel]

price of gasoline analysis

http://www.amateur-investor.net/Week...ly_20_2013.htm

That is a rather braindead analysis. There are no costs factored in at all.

But don't believe me, here is Forbes from August 2012:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/energysource/2012/03/08/the-untold-story-behind-u-s-gas-price-pain-transport-and-refining-bottlenecks/

Anyway, the first step to wealth seems to be not to subscribe to amateur-investor.com.
Who would, when there is $$$Mr. Market$$$ ! ! !

Regards,

Karel

[mimo_100]

That is a rather braindead analysis. There are no costs factored in at all.

But don't believe me, here is Forbes from August 2012:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/energysource/2012/03/08/the-untold-story-behind-u-s-gas-price-pain-transport-and-refining-bottlenecks/

Anyway, the first step to wealth seems to be not to subscribe to amateur-investor.com.
Who would, when there is $$$Mr. Market$$$ ! ! !

Regards,

Karel

I read the Forbes article and I stand by the "braindead analysis." I get an email from Amateur Investors every weekend and I enjoy reading what they have to say.

Regards,

Tim

[Karel]

I read the Forbes article and I stand by the "braindead analysis." I get an email from Amateur Investors every weekend and I enjoy reading what they have to say.

Regards,

Tim

No problem. I just don't understand how anyone could possibly say this or that price is "artificially high" without considering cost.

Regards, Karel

[Duniyo]

ifruit- um um soooooooooo good!

An Australian woman paid $1,200 for two new Apple iPhones over website Gumtree, but opened the box to find just fruit inside.

The 21-year-old had posted an ad asking if anyone had a smartphone for sale.

RELATED: STOLEN FONE’S PINGS POINT TO BLACK MARKET SHOP

She was soon contacted by another woman who said she had "two Apples" up for grabs.

The pair met at a McDonald's restaurant where the woman handed over her cash for what she thought were two new iPhone boxes.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/woman-buy-iphones-duped-buying-fruit-article-1.1415652

[riverbabe]

It's going to be a hard winter. I just found mouse droppings in my silverware drawer where I keep wrapped candy. (insert SCREAM here) They're coming in early. The first I've had in 17 years here.

[IIC]

ETrade Baby 30 years Later.... Check this out ... http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/943097/


Doug

[mimo_100]

The Harvard School of Medicine did a study of why women like Chinese food so much.
The study revealed that the reason for this is because "Won Ton" spelled backward is "Not Now."

[mimo_100]

From CNBC

Why 3D printing might be about to get even cooler

3-D printing - when a product is created layer by layer - may be the coolest disruptive technology around for some, but the technology has had its fair share of controversial headlines after the manufacture of firearms and even claims that it could give people cancer.

But one tech startup is hoping to put the fun back into stereolithography, allowing users to draw - in the air.

3Doodler is a new 3D printing pen you can hold in your hand to draw upwards. The company says you can literally "lift your imagination off the page." It's due for release in the next two weeks and is set to be priced at $99.

Here is a link to the whole article

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-3d-printing-might-even-060946382.html

[riverbabe]

GOOG -- "do no evil..." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...686941454.html

[mimo_100]

GOOG -- "do no evil..." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...686941454.html

Barb,

Thanks for providing this link - it definitely falls within the category of "off topic" - certainly not "fun stuff." All taxpayers and voters should be concerned about this kind of abuse.

We as taxpayers need to do something more that just complain about it. Few have the time and the ambition to become active. This apathy is just another reason why our government is taking advantage of us taxpayers. Look at the salaries, benefits, and health benefits of government workers for a start. Then look at total government employment.

State and local governments in the United States employed 14.6 million full-time and 4.7 million part-time employees in March of 2011.

http://www2.census.gov/govs/apes/2011_summary_report.pdf

[mimo_100]

http://www.publicsectorinc.org/facts/

FACTS AND FIGURES
What Is Public Sector Inc.?
How many people hold public-sector jobs?
Are government employees paid more than private-sector workers?
Why are public-sector benefits so expensive?
How do government pensions differ from private-sector retirement plans?
What brought on the current "crisis" in public pensions?
How big is the funding shortfall for public-sector retirement benefits?
Why should this matter to all Americans?
If pension and health-care obligations are such a problem, why isn't something done to reduce them?

WHAT IS PUBLIC SECTOR INC.?

Public Sector Inc. is a coalition of government-employee unions and social-advocacy groups that depend on taxpayer funding. In state capitals and city halls around the country, this coalition is an effective advocate for its agenda. Not only does the coalition agitate for higher taxes and spending, it also influences public spending decisions in ways which benefit their members more than the public at large.

One part of the coalition, public worker unions, began gathering power in the 1950s, when local elected officials led by New York City Mayor Robert Wagner started granting these groups the right to bargain collectively with government for wages and benefits. This vastly increased their influence and appeal. By the early 1970s, some 20 percent of all government workers in America were organized, and that coverage spread so that today 37 percent of these workers belong to unions, compared to just 7 percent of the private workforce. In early 2010 the total number of government union members surpassed the total number of unionized workers in the private sector of the American economy for the first time. The largest government worker organizations includes the National Education Association, which represents 3.2 million teachers and school workers, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, with 1.6 million members, and the Service Employees International Union, whose 2.2 million members includes 1 million government employees.

These unions have found natural allies in taxpayer-funded social-advocacy groups who run a constellation of programs for government, from subsidized housing complexes to job-training centers to mortgage-counseling programs and health centers. Although those who work for these organizations are nominally considered private sector employees, their jobs are supported extensively by taxpayer dollars, which often puts their interests into alignment with those of public worker unions in support of growing government and in opposition to cutbacks in public spending.


How many people hold public-sector jobs?


Government agencies at every level employed more than 22 million Americans as of late 2010, up nearly 1.8 million since 2000. The total includes 2.8 million federal civilian employees, 5.2 million state government employees, and 14.2 million employees of local governments and public schools. Federal, state, and local payrolls accounted for roughly 17 percent of the nation's workforce as of late 2010.


Are government employees paid more than private-sector workers?


The average hourly wage in the state and local government sector was $26.13, compared with $19.53 in the private sector, according to June 2010 data from the U.S. Department of Labor. Employee benefits were worth an average of $13.62 an hour for state and local government workers, versus $8.11 for private employees. Combined average compensation came to $39.74 for state and local government employees, versus $27.73 for private employees. This equates to a pay premium of 44 percent in the public sector.


Federal employees had an even larger pay edge. As of 2008, the average federal compensation package was worth nearly $120,000 a year, double the roughly $60,000 compensation of private workers, according to a study by Chris Edwards of the Cato Institute. Even if the comparison is narrowed to workers with the same education and experience, the federal wage premium alone is still 24 percent, meaning that "private employees must work 13½ months to earn what comparable federal workers earn in 12," as researchers Andrew Biggs of the American Enterprise Institute and Jason Richwine of the Heritage Foundation have pointed out.




Why are public-sector benefits so expensive?


State and local government workers enjoy far more generous benefit packages than private workers do.


Eighty-seven percent of public-sector workers have health-insurance benefits, compared with 71 percent of private employees—and those health benefits continue into retirement.


Ninety percent of all state and local workers have access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan, compared with just 66 percent of private-sector employees. Public-sector retirement benefits, including pensions and continuing health-insurance coverage, are lavish by private-sector standards.


Growing unfunded liabilities for pensions and retiree health coverage for public-sector workers are a major threat to the financial stability of state and local governments across the country.




How do government pensions differ from private-sector retirement plans?


The standard pension model throughout most of the public sector is the defined benefit (DB) plan, which promises a salary-like stream of retirement income based on an employee's longevity and end-of-career earnings. Virtually all full-time state and local employees have access to employer-sponsored retirement benefits, and 90 percent have DB pensions. Federal employees hired since 1983 are enrolled in a retirement plan that combines DB pensions with savings accounts offering guaranteed investment returns.


By contrast, only 21 percent of private employees can access a traditional DB pension. The remaining corporate pension plans are, at best, only partially guaranteed; in some cases, benefits have shriveled or disappeared when employers have gone bankrupt.


The vast majority of private employees with employer-sponsored retirement benefits rely on defined-contribution (DC) savings plans, such as 401(k) accounts. An individual employee with a DC retirement plan shoulders the risks of market downturns, such as the more than 50 percent slump in stock prices between October 2008 and March 2009. In a public-sector DB pension plan, by contrast, that risk is assumed entirely by the sponsoring employer—in other words, taxpayers. When investment returns fall short of a pension fund’s goals, taxpayers must make up the difference.


Public pension benefits are especially expensive—and their consequent liabilities especially huge—because they are also much more generous than private plans. In union as well as nonunion states, most state and local pension systems allow general employees to retire as young as age fifty-five after thirty years of service, with benefits equivalent to 60 percent or more of their average late-career salaries. And in most states, those benefits are in addition to Social Security.


Police officers and firefighters typically can retire even earlier, usually by age fifty or younger, after as little as twenty years on the job, with benefits equivalent to at least half of their peak pay, including overtime. In some cases, the pension payout is even higher. In California, for example, some police and firefighters qualify for pensions equal to 90 percent of their final pay. Such benefit levels are virtually unheard of in the private sector, even for workers with DB pensions.




What brought on the current "crisis" in public pensions?


Defined benefit pensions are financed from the investment returns on government-sponsored retirement trust funds. In most states, contributions from taxpayers must make up the difference if pension funds fall short of their investment earnings targets. Because financial markets have just endured their worst decade since the 1970s, tax-funded pension contributions are headed for their highest levels ever—when taxpayers can least afford it.


The financial crisis hit just as baby boomers were beginning to retire, draining pension funds much more rapidly. Further compounding the problem, public pension funds have been allowed to use accounting standards that understate their liabilities—basing "required contributions" on the assumption that investment returns will hit ambitious targets of 7 to 8 percent a year. As a result, contributions were too low to begin with. (Private funds are required to use much more conservative methods.)


To make matters even worse, many state and local governments have chronically failed to keep up with their pension bills, further depleting their funds.




How big is the funding shortfall for public-sector retirement benefits?


The nation's largest public pension plans reported unfunded liabilities of $576 billion before reflecting the full impact of the 2007–09 bear market, according to their own official statements. Using accounting standards that more accurately reflect financial risk and prospects for default, academic researchers Joshua Rauh and Jonathan Novy-Marx have estimated that pension promises already made to state and local workers are worth $3.5 billion more than the assets set aside to pay for them.


But pensions aren't the only generous and underfunded long-term benefits promised to public employees. Most state and local government employees across the country also qualify for health-insurance coverage after they retire—a plum offered by just 13 percent of private employers as of 2002. In contrast to pensions, retiree health benefits for government workers are funded on a pay-as-you-go basis out of state and local budgets. The nation's collective unfunded liabilities for retiree health care have been credibly estimated, by various analysts, at between $1 trillion and $1.5 trillion.


Combining pensions and retiree health care, state and local governments have promised $4.5 to $5 trillion in future benefits for which they haven't set aside enough money. By comparison, state and local debts to bondholders come to just $2.8 trillion.




Why should this matter to all Americans?


As the nation struggles to emerge from the worst recession since the 1930s, state and local governments may need to enact draconian spending cuts or tax hikes just to keep up with their pension bills. The situation is even worse in places that have not been contributing enough to their pensions to start with. Pension liabilities threaten to bring some of these states and localities to the brink of bankruptcy.


Left untended, a problem this massive may not be contained within state borders indefinitely. Like the feared "contagion" of European Community finances by problems in Portugal, Ireland, and Greece, the unfunded pension and health-care liabilities of state and local governments could ultimately affect the entire country. Washington could be forced to bail out the most heavily indebted states or risk another financial crisis.




If pension and health-care obligations are such a problem, why isn't something done to reduce them?


Most states have laws or constitutional provisions that prohibit elected officials from changing retirement benefits already earned by government employees. As a result, reforms have tended to focus on newly hired employees.


Michigan shifted all newly hired state government workers to DC plans in 1997, and Alaska did the same in 2005. Several other states, including Florida and Colorado, have created DC plans only on an optional basis. Utah has taken the lead in limiting new employees to a choice between a 401(k) plan and a "hybrid" of DB and DC plans offering more modest benefit levels. Most other pension "reforms" adopted by states in recent years have preserved the basic DB model while making incremental adjustments in benefits.


Public-employee unions have been the major obstacle to pension reform throughout the country.