All Things in Moderation

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I’m a big fan of the two shows This American Life did with Pro Publica regarding the Giant Pit of Money. Shoving interest rates down for so long meant that bond yields were nada. A historically unprecedented amount of money went looking for higher returns. Match that with poorly doc’d CDOs and you’ve got a setup for the biggest balloon since the tulips.

I was out purchasing in 2005 and deeply frustrated by competing in that market. I feel sorry for many, but I also got screwed in a different way. All that easy money meant that I had to pay a lot more for a house than in a reasonable market. We put down a bit over 10% and have a 15 year fixed mortgage. Even given a decline in values (we’re probably down about 10% in Alexandria, VA), we have solid equity in our home.

Personally, I’m in favor of terminating the mortgage interest deduction. I doubt that it’s done much for its purported aim, increasing home ownership. If you look at ownership rates internationally (I’m not on the SCOTUS, so I’m allowed to do this), you’ll some interesting results.

Australia – 69%
UK – 69%
US – 68%
Canada – 67%
NZ – 65%

Take a look at my not so random selection. Home ownership rates are comparable in the UK and English speaking former colonies. The desire for home ownership is a cultural matter, independent of a mortgage interest deduction.

But wait! One argues that it makes home ownership more affordable. No it doesn’t. Historically, the calculation has been based on income. If the government subsidizes mortgage payments, then housing prices will simply rise to compensate.

As an interim measure, I would suggest a housing tax credit of up to 20% with a limit of the median price of a home multiplied by the average interest rate . No second homes either. Sunset it by 1% per year until the damn thing disappears around 2030.

BB

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Hi all,

My annual Thanksgiving preparations are ongoing. I’ve learned that starting on Monday means I can actually enjoy Thursday. We generally invite a few friends over to our place for Thanksgiving meal. Most folks bring a side or an appetizer (and wine!) Complicating the annual preparations is that two of our friends are vegetarians. Stuffing is a high light of the meal for me, so it’s gotta be made. I like to have all my guests able to enjoy it, so that means two batches. One turkey flavored and the other not.

Likewise, gravy. I made a mushroom gravy one year. Good, but a little complicated. This year I had an interesting idea. Mashed potatoes made with roasted garlic are tasty, so why not make a roasted garlic gravy? I have an Indian recipe for a garlic curry (cook garlic, onion and chiles in clarified butter until brown, add spices and coconut milk). I toned down the heat a bit and pureed the mixture.

I’ll have to think about the turkey alternative. It seems a shame to just eat sides and I’m sure fish has graced more than one holiday table. I roasted a rock fish one year, which turned out well. It’s fairly easy to do (salt and paper inside out out, toss herbs in the cavity and roast in a hot oven). It is, however, something that requires attention right when everything else is coming together. I actually made a lobster risotto another year. I’m tempted by the lobsters as they were $5/pound at the market and looked pretty frisky. Problem being that risotto is relatively time intensive. I might just try a makhni sauce (used for Indian butter chicken). Cook the lobsters, take the meat off the shell and toss into the sauce. I can make the sauce ahead of time and it’ll be tasty.

So, Monday night was stock night. I made a turkey stock from roasted neck bones. Well, it was a hybrid stock as turkey necks are $2.20 per pound and chicken necks are $0.69/pound. While that was going on, I also made the absurdly complicated vegetarian stock from Cooks Illustrated. The first time I made it, I swore I’d never do it again. In addition to the usual suspects, there’s a pound of collard greens and a cauliflower. All that work to produce a quart of stock. I’ve found that the recipe doubles just fine and makes a quite tasty stock. Still, I’d rather just use chicken stock.

Not much to do yesterday. I made the roasted garlic gravy and roasted some beats. I dice them up for a salad with yogurt, some spices, and some cilantro. Thanksgiving with a side of Mumbai. I took the bird out of the fridge this morning and put it in the brine. I’ll take it out of the brine this afternoon and leave it in the fridge to air dry. Life is also easier for myself if I do a lot of chopping tonight. Carrots, onions, and celery are pretty hard and it’ll save me time tomorrow.

Well, I’d best get to work, go home, and get to work.

BB

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Just a quick post on something I’ve been thinking about in the last few weeks. With my publishing project, I’ve had a more first person experience with some of the big monoliths in today’s world—Google (AdWords specifically), Amazon, and Facebook, though a friend took on the Facebook role as it was an odd fit for me and not something I had time for in any case.

I have to admit to being in awe of the reach of these big companies that have become so important in our lives so quickly. I won’t go into all the very real benefits they’ve brought because we know what they are. But the smaller comment I want to make is that in a service age, these are not outfits that are particularly good at helping the people who use them. They count on users to know what they’re doing or to figure it out. For instance it’s easy enough to sign up for AdWords in hopes of a marketing boost. For a person who doesn’t have a starting knowledge of all the kinds of data it generates and how to use it effectively, it’s tough and time-consuming to figure out all the ins and outs of how it works and if it works, even if you check on it daily.

With Amazon KDP, you can upload things quickly but if you hit submit before you should, you won’t be able to fix a mistake with the same speed. If you send an email for help, you’ll hear back, but not quickly. As often as not, it’s assumed you’ll have your questions answered in forums by other people who’re also trying to navigate the system. I know very little about Facebook, but I have learned that there’s not a lot of software flexibility. You can have five pictures at the top of your page, or you can have five pictures at the top of your page. If you mistakenly link your page to another page, it’s apparently stuck that way.

My personal concern is with what’s essentially customer service, although it feels bigger than that. When an outfit is as huge and dominant as any of these are and still seeking to expand its reach, even if it’s relatively new in the marketplace, it’s still a monopoly with all the dangers that implies. We love the services and sometimes breathtaking opportunities we get from companies like this, but in some fundamental ways, I think we should be wary. I’m just not sure how.

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Hi all,

This spins off of the recent megathread about the teleprompter and racism. There was a separate discussion amongst a few of us in which a liberal had described Herman Cain as a minstrel. I think that was an ugly comparison, but no more so than some of what I read when Obama was running himself. But that’s not what I’m posting about tonight.

I’d never considered myself to be a racist. I grew up in a proper liberal household. My dad was a professor at a small college (Hastings, Nebraska) and my mom was a speech pathologist. It would be accurate to say that I had a non-racial upbringing in that there wasn’t much racial diversity in Hastings, Nebraska (where I grew up) or Pocatello, Idaho (where I spent my teenage years). The only kid I remember spending time with who wasn’t white was Triet Huen (I’m going phonetic here–Tree-ET, Huyen). He was a Vietnamese immigrant. This would have been around 1976, so I’m guessing his parents left before the end. So, I’m just establishing that my interactions up to going to college were almost exclusively with other white kids.

I had an eye opener the summer after I graduated from college. I went to Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. I wound up renting an apartment for the summer after I graduated with three friends. Two of had just graduated and the other two were between junior and senior years. We rented a place on Marshall Avenue. There’s a striking shift in income within just a few blocks. Summit Avenue is mansions. Marshall, about a half mile to the north, is the “hood”.

Our place on Marshall was just off Victoria, about a half mile from Victoria Crossing, where Victoria crosses Grand Ave. It’s a place with some posh shopping and once had a great book store (Odegards). I particularly liked going to Chocolate & Bread as well as Coffee & Tea, Ltd. In order to get there, one walks about a half mile south on Victoria, past a youth center. Outside the youth center, there would often be a group of young, black men. I felt nervous every time I walked past. Know this. Up to that point, I’d never been assaulted by a black man. [I grew up before African American became proper usage, so I’ll stick with black and white for the purpose of this discussion.] I’d had virtually no interactions. And still, I felt nervous every time I walked by.

Without realizing it, I’d absorbed something in our culture. I know that had it been a dozen white teenagers hanging around outside the center, I wouldn’t have felt nervous. It was solely because of their race. It was an eye opening moment for me.

We all make judgements. We all react to race. I think that is equally true, regardless as to one’s ethnic background. That doesn’t make you or me a racist. In my case, I chose to keep walking past that place (corner of Victoria and Selby) as I refused to give into that visceral reaction. I don’t think that I’m a racist, but I am not immune to racial judgements. The struggle against those judgements is something that I face.

Many years later, I faced a little of what it feels like to be judged. I lived in England for four years as an American. Every so often, I’d be hanging out at the pub and someone would make a crack that made it clear to me that I wasn’t local. That’s only a shadow of what others must feel, but it was a valuable lesson.

Good night to all. And just ’cause….

BB

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