As a lifelong renter (budget maximum $250 / month) I was interested in this post on the downside of home ownership.
I just want people to understand that the house one lives in is not an asset, and it won’t become an asset until the day you sell it. Until then it’s a huge liability.
I don’t eat Big Macs — they have no taste — but a travellin’ man is always checking price vs purchasing power. I saw a standard muffin sold for US$3 in San Francisco, then $4.50 in a Las Vegas casino deli.
Economist magazine started the Big Mac index in 1986 and it is still referred to widely.
But Dana would be keener on the Starbucks Tall Latte index, introduced by Economist in 2004.
The graphic shows 2004 prices. You must subscribe to Economist on-line to get the up-to-date statistics. That’s to keep the poor (who might disagree with their pro-globalization, pro-Starbucks editorial policy) ignorant.
PS
I’ve often told people that Starbucks was owned indirectly by big tobacco. That’s wrong — in fact, the company is zealously non-smoking at all outlets, even in China.
My boomtown hometown needs more people. Every business is hiring.
Ignore headlines like this: average house price increased 35%
Much of the talk in Calgary is about real estate. Average price has increased by 35 per cent for homes here over the last year, mainly due to the simultaneous increase in the price of oil. Alberta has arguably the second largest proven oil reserves in the world.
Against the wisdom of the streets, I’m predicting a big drop in house prices here in the next 15-months.
Things have a way of “correcting”.
It will be time to move to Calgary and buy in when that dip comes.
That is the claim sweeping the internet.
Check their cover story in different regions:
I am sceptical. The American cover story is a feature on photographer Annie Leibovitz who just shot the fabulously profitable Suri Cruise photos.
This month’s cover is Angelina and her kids.
I expect the decision was based on which would move the most product.
Fewer listeners are tuning in, including me.
Will traditional analogue radio die? Or come-up with a new business model?
… the prospects of radio companies have dimmed significantly since the late 1990’s, when broadcast barons were tripping over themselves to buy more stations. Radio revenue growth has stagnated and the number of listeners is dropping. The amount of time people tune into radio over the course of a week has fallen by 14 percent over the last decade, according to Arbitron ratings.
Over the last three years, the stocks of the five largest publicly traded radio companies are down between 30 percent and 60 percent as investors wonder when the industry will bottom out.
Personally I feel radio has a bright future. But it will be far different than the bland, computer scripted content forced on listeners today.
The radio infrastructure will be available cheap and — I hope — be converted to unique, very localized service. Podcasters may even pay to be broadcast over public air waves.
Competition for your ears is increasing. I expect traditional radio to be one of the many different ways it is delivered.
Another reason to dislike Telcoms.
A widow rented a rotary dial telephone for 42 years, paying what her family calculates as more than $14,000 for a now outdated phone.
Ester Strogen, 82, of Canton, first leased two black rotary phones — the kind whose round dial is moved manually with your finger — in the 1960s. Back then, the technology was new and owning telephones was unaffordable for most people.
Until two months ago, Strogen was still paying AT&T to use the phones — $29.10 a month. Strogen’s granddaughters, Melissa Howell and Barb Gordon, ended the arrangement when they discovered the bills.
The “legal” download movie wars, I mean.
CrunchGear – Amazon’s Unbox Movie Download Service Launched
Amazon has launched a movie download page called Unbox.com with TV episode downloads for about $1.99 and movies for about $15. …
Each “purchase” gives you a DVD-quality video file and a Windows Media file for portable devices. It is currently Windows-only and movie rentals, which are cheaper, expire after 30 days.
Amazon surprised the pundits by being the first big player out of the gate. Reviews have been very negative.
I expect Apple’s about-to-be-announced service will be far better. Apple will be the market leader, as usual.
In the film Beverly Hills Cop, Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) asks his love interest, “Is this your car?”
She replies, “Oh, no. In Beverly Hills we just take whichever car is closest.”
I always loved that line.
Now it’s (almost) come true.
“Car Sharing Goes Upscale” by Paul Boutin, a Slate.com podcast brought me up to speed.
No longer a “save the Earth guilt trip”, car sharing is now cool.
In San Francisco you can grab a CityCarShare.com economy car just about anywhere in town and pay just $4/hr plus $.44/mile. That includes gas, insurance and parking.
Sweet!
As a non-car-owner I would take advantage of that often. A friend in Calgary has been doing something similar here. I will check it out.
High rollers and business travellers are paying much, much more for short-term luxury car hourly rentals. In San Francisco check ZipCar.com
It’s become a hip thing to do there.
Product complaint: I would love to link to the original Slate.com podcast archive so you could listen for yourself. But they look to be 3 weeks behind in posting them!
Instead you could search iTunes > podcasts > Slate Magazine Daily Podcast.
As a teen someone taught me that — when you want to know why decisions are made — follow the money.
The rip-offs have never been greater in the history of the world than in Iraq.
Where are the billion$ going?
newsobserver.com | Contractors in Iraq make costs balloon
UPDATE: Jane sold her house and let go of most of her possessions. Sounds a lot like my philosophy of voluntary simplicity.
Oh, and she has changed her name to “Issa”.
I am a big Jane Sieberry fan. Especially the When I Was a Boy album. (critically applauded, commercially negligible)
Siberry is an artist who deserves more attention.
Jane Siberry is leveraging the net and economics to make for a new way to make money selling her tunes online. Basically, she lets you pay what you want, when you want – … Net result? It looks like given a choice, on average, people pay *more* than at iTunes!”
Boing Boing: Freaknomics on Jane Siberry’s pay-what-you-want music store
See for yourself:
Rick McCharles 