All Forum Posts by: Karen Parker

J Scott,

You know I don't agree with your cause and affect relationships of the above administrations with maybe the "Then W came along and decided, "Who gives a f*** ". I feel the majority of the problem we see right now is due to policies enacted by the Clinton administration that carried over into the Bush administration who did nothing to curtail it. But then that all goes back to something I said under your religious thread, it all depends on what school of thought you subscribe to and what part of the media BS you want to believe and what you dismiss. Overall, my thoughts on the increasing deficit over time, is essentially the function of population and its dependence on government along with the misappropriation of funds. For example, the social security system might have been fine if it had been set up in individual accounts and uncle Samantha's fingers had stayed out of it but it became the pot of gold from which all toys came from. In addition, as our population has grown, both from within and as a result of immigration, we have more people dependent upon it., Add to this our idiocy of loaning money to foreign countries that we will never see again, funding the UN to assist in removing our Constitutional Rights and on and on and after a while, you have more outgo than income. Its simple economics. Most individuals don't have a printing press so they can keep on going like the government does.

Originally posted by Tim Wieneke:

Originally posted by Karen Parker:

I don't see the correlation with the tax charts and the National debt though. Am I missing something? Between 1940 and 1950 both tax rate and national debt seem to be at about the highest this country has ever seen. While as the chart extends into the 2000's, tax rate remains relatively stable yet the national debt is climbing.

Karen,
One other thing that it doesn't answer is something that we know about as investors - investing. Investing requires some expenditure at the beginning. Some would argue that the end of the Cold War was a very good investment in the United States and contributed heavily to the financial prosperity enjoyed soon after.

Tim

Tim,

These charts also don't show the policy's put into place by these administrations that are a driving force for much of what we see here. The one thing I noted is that as J Scott mentioned above, although the supposedly "fiscally conservative" administrations were at the helm, our national debt continues to climb. But I don't think you can accurately place that as the result of a specific administration since the impact is carried over from one administration to the other.

J Scott, I think its fine to spend money you don't have on a sound investment for which you will see a return. We, as investors, do it all the time. But we are business people. The government is not and have proven themselves to be wasteful, have no business sense and no earthly idea on where to appropriate the funds that they "steal" from us in a manner that benefits anyone except the Federal Government.

Originally posted by Jason Trepins:

it's like i said..i cannot rule out that there is something greater than us.
But all these man made texts, the ones once accepted but no longer....and the ones currently accepted, do not describe that 'something greater'
I can just point to the holy book of the kuran that says jesus was a prophet and not the son of god. Muhammad was alive aLOT closer to jesus's time than myself, mabye he knows something

There are a number of books out presently that point to scientific evidence to a greater entity being responsible for creationism. Again, it depends if you want to open your mind to this line off thought or dismiss it. Having as strong of a background in the sciences as I do, I tend to look for hard physical evidence to support my "spiritual" belief systems. Needless to say it has been through some major changes since I was child going to Sunday school and being taught about Noah's Ark. Furthermore, as I stated above, I probably have quite a few beliefs that run off into the theoretical concerning physics, energy and matter that support my beliefs that when I find the right audience I launch into the description of but still get "those looks".

I thought I would provide a little insight as to why you get responses such as this. It is typically when you call for a reference from a large apartment complex owned by a sizable corporation. This is the standard reply managers have been told to give because there have been instances where a person has been denied employment, housing, loans, etc. due to responses given by a so-called reference that have resulted in legal action against the respondent or their employer. It is not worth the time and legal costs that they may be subjected to for providing further information.

Originally posted by J Scott:

I'm all for fiscal conservatism (I really am), but those in power who have claimed to be fiscally conservative appear to either be lying or not very competent:

Either or of the above definitions would suffice. I don't see the correlation with the tax charts and the National debt though. Am I missing something? Between 1940 and 1950 both tax rate and national debt seem to be at about the highest this country has ever seen. While as the chart extends into the 2000's, tax rate remains relatively stable yet the national debt is climbing.

Originally posted by Jason Trepins:

one 'branch' of my conclusions after years of research is that it is far Easier to cope with everything..when you believe in god.

I hope to conclude someday that there is high probability that the lights just don't go out when you die. But it's going to take more than 'just have faith'

I feel there's already plenty of evidence if you care to look, both scientific as well as physical. Like everything else, UFOs, Big Foot, etc etc. it depends on how rooted your mind is in the belief system you have and how far it is willing to stretch. Its sort of like listening to the media. Part is true and part is fiction. You somewhat have to sort through the BS to get the few real facts because the claimant, of course, is always slanted toward their own views. For example, we know Jesus Christ was here on this earth. We have physical evidence to prove this. Whether you want to believe that it is in fact evidence or even if you do, was He in fact the Son of God? That's left up to the individual to believe or not believe. This may be a strange way of interpreting things but Anne Rice wrote a book called "Queen of the Damned". In this book, all the vampires were linked to one greater being through which they existed in reality as one and without whom they would not. I think God is something sort of like that. A greater being through which we are all linked by mind, spirit, energy or the like, and are one. The power through which our minds create reality through thought, heals through prayer and creates miracles such as microchips and biogenetic engineering.

Originally posted by Stephani:

Hi Jamie,

I just wrote a post today on the Bigger Pockets blog that explains how a simul close is done. Not sure if you read it already: http://is.gd/37NDV

Let me know if you need further clarification..

Steph

Stephani, have you been able to find a title company in the Tampa Bay area that will do a simultaneous close? If so, could you pm or message me on Facebook about this?

Originally posted by Ted Harris:

That's kind of my theory, lol!
This is a great thread! And much more civil than I expected. I believe in God but I don't believe in religion because religion is man made. Part of my family was Quakers, another part Baptist and I was married for years to a Catholic. I don't see a lot of value in it from my own personal perspective (from the ritualistic side, not the belief or worship side) I've studied a good bit about religion and sociology and have some sort of self developed theory through seeing so many similarities throughout the religions of the world that perhaps all of these entities are in fact the same "God" but with different interpretations and rituals for celebrating HIM/HER/THEM.

I've had the same problem with some realtors. In the land of infinite foreclosures here, "option" seems to be an ugly word. Try using an addendum to the sales contract which will basically do the same thing for you. If you don't have one or can't find one, e-mail me and I'll send you a copy of mine.

I use B of A and Trulia but also use Zillow for recently/nearby sold, sq, ft., and other info that the site is good for but as everyone else stated, their "Zestimate" is not one of them.