May 28, 2015

Thank You My Dear Friends

My second surgery went well on the 26th of May and I saw the surgeon on the 27th for the follow up. He feels confident he has gotten all the bacteria infection in the tear ducts, specially where the upper and lower tear duct join area, that's where it made a home and caused such pain. No ointment or antibiotics could reach that area, so extensive surgery was necessary. It's been a battle to say the lease with the long length of time, I am worn out.

I will continue to use antibiotics and a gel type antibiotic ointment for the upper corner of the eye at the opening of the tear duct.
I thanked the doctor and told him what a great surgeon he is.

I see him again Monday. In the meantime, I'm very fatigued, and will follow doctor's orders.

Thank You ALL for your Good Thoughts and Prayers, I truly felt them.

April 12, 2015

Dr. Housing Bubble 04/10/15

The broke first time home buyer: 66 percent of first time buyers purchase homes with low down payment mortgages.


There is a reason why new home sales still remain in a slump. New home sales cater to an economy where most family income is rising to support the cost of higher priced homes. In many markets, new homes cater to first time buyers. But the first time home buyer market is mired in problems. In more expensive metro areas you have younger people simply unable to afford rents let alone the cost of a crap shack. In many other parts of the US families are simply dealing with an economy that isn’t seeing across the board wage increases. Low interest rates have to remain to keep the monthly payment static. At least that is what the Fed is hoping for. There was some recent data showing that first time home buyers continue to make up a small portion of all sales. Contrary to some false narrative, many first time home buyers are coming in with low down payments, not suitcases of cash. And for the most part, this is being driven because Americans overall don’t have much in savings and barely enough to cover a dinner at Taco Tuesday with a side order of guacamole if you are being a big spender.

Low down payments and low percentage of all sales

The first point we should look at is that the percent of first time home buyers is still near historical lows. First time home buyers as you would expect come from younger families. Younger Americans came of age during the epic tech bubble and the even more dramatic housing/debt bubble. Across a span of 20 years wages have remained stagnant yet the cost of debt financed items has ballooned (i.e., housing, college tuition, and even glamorous cars). But with housing, much of the growth is dependent on government backed low rate loans.

Take a look at the percentage of first time home buyers:



http://www.doctorhousingbubble.com/broke-first-time-home-buyer-first-time-buyer-down-payment/

April 12, 2015

Some Sunday Smiles!

Have A Great One!

April 12, 2015

Photo of the Day

April 12, 2015

Cloud Cover

Photograph by Brendon Wainwright, National Geographic Your Shot

Table Mountain wears her distinctive blanket while Cape Town flickers below in this picture by Brendon Wainwright, a member of our Your Shot community. Taking advantage of a beautiful day, Wainwright had hiked with friends to the top of Lion’s Head in the Table Mountain range. “Most people know [that] when the southeasterly wind is blowing it is unpleasant, strong, and irritating; however, not the case on Lion's Head, which is situated between Table Mountain and Signal Hill,” says Wainwright. “As a result of the southeaster, [we saw] a magical 'tablecloth' cloud phenomenon ... formed over Table Mountain.”

April 11, 2015

Photo of the Day

April 11, 2015

Come Dancing

Photograph by Visarut Teerawatvichaikul, National Geographic Your Shot

The light and shimmer of the Starlight Room at San Francisco’s Sir Frances Drake Hotel absorbs a couple moved to dance the tango. “I heard the tango music while I was setting up my camera on a tripod,” writes Your Shot member Visarut Teerawatvichaikul, who visited the lounge while at work on a school project. “Suddenly, I saw one couple run up to the dance floor. They danced like a shadow among the stars. I was watching them dance for a while, and I felt like time was paused in that moment between me and them, so I took a shot.”

April 11, 2015

The Defining Moment, and Hillary Rodham Clinton

Friday, April 10, 2015

by Robert Reich

Almost all the economic gains are still going to the top, leaving America’s vast middle class with stagnant wages and little or no job security. Two-thirds of Americans are working paycheck to paycheck.

Meanwhile, big money is taking over our democracy.

If there were ever a time for a bold Democratic voice on behalf of hardworking Americans, it is now.

Yet I don’t recall a time when the Democratic Party’s most prominent office holders sounded as meek. With the exception of Elizabeth Warren, they’re pussycats. If Paul Wellstone, Teddy Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, or Ann Richards were still with us, they’d be hollering.

The fire now is on the right, stoked by the Koch brothers, Rupert Murdoch, and a pocketful of hedge-fund billionaires.

http://robertreich.org/post/116045764740

April 10, 2015

Photo of the Day

April 10, 2015

The Searcher

Photograph by Carlo Mogavero, National Geographic Your Shot

A lone rider is dwarfed by the immensity of Utah’s Monument Valley. Your Shot member Carlo Mogavero had the benefit of a clear day and an iconic setting but, he writes, his shot was missing a subject. “Suddenly a cowboy started to climb the cliff, and I began to hope that the guy was going to reach the right position,” he writes. “I waited for a while, and luckily the cowboy went [onto] the rock.” For Mogavero, the scene evoked the classic Western films of Sergio Leone and John Ford, once viewed on a black-and-white television.

April 9, 2015

Photo of the Day

April 9, 2015

When Penguins Attack

Photograph by Gordon Tait, National Geographic Your Shot

“This is what happens when you leave a GoPro out on the sea ice,” writes Your Shot member Gordon Tait, who captured a series of time-lapses with the HD camera system while running an ocean acidification experiment near Casey Station, Antarctica. “We often get groups of Adélie penguins coming to see what we’re doing, and this one was trying to peck the camera.”

April 9, 2015

Rich Middle Class, Poor Middle Class (April 9, 2015)

by charles hugh smith

This great generational injustice is the direct consequence of central banks lowering interest rates to zero and inflating asset bubbles.

How can middle class households have similar incomes but some are asset-rich and others are asset-poor?

Spending and saving habits matter, of course; some households spend virtually all their net income while others "pay themselves first" and scrimp to do so.

But the really big differences in wealth are the result of what assets the household bought and when they were bought.

Those who bought assets at the top of bubbles may still be underwater once inflation is factored in; those who bought long before the Federal Reserve and other central banks inflated credit bubbles every few years have substantial equity even after the bubbles inevitably crash to Earth (revert to the mean).



For example, a household that bought $25,000 of 30-year Treasury bonds paying 12% in the early 1980s

and reinvested the $3,000 annual interest (at much lower yields) ended up with over $100,000 by 2012.

Those who bought Apple stock shortly after Steve Jobs took the reins in 1997 did even better.

http://www.oftwominds.com/blogapr15/rich-poor-middle-class4-15.html

April 9, 2015

Today's Cartoon