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#339915 - 06/27/08 05:21 AM
Dogs and Cats Feel the Foreclosure Crisis
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Porn Jesus
Registered: 09/07/05
Posts: 14160
Loc: NYC
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As the foreclosure crisis continues, pets are losing their homes and their families as cash-strapped humans can no longer afford to care for their dogs and cats. From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: With the arrival of spring and a deepening recession, shelters already bulging with pets that have lost their humans and homes through foreclosure now have the added strain of new litters of puppies and kittens. Euthanization figures at shelters in two of metro Atlanta's largest counties are proof they have reached their limit. "This," said animal rescuer Stacey Hall, "is as bad as I've ever seen it." Bad all over, too. A national organization that charts animal issues reports that across the country shelters have overflowing inventories. Adding to rescue societies' problems: the escalating price of gas continues to cut into their budgets. Chicagoland's Southtown Star recently wrote about the South Suburban Humane Society, which provides free pet food to needy owners fourth Thursday of each month. They've added the second Thursday of each month due to increased demand. "We used to hand out food from noon to about 3:30 (p.m.), until supplies were gone," said Emily Gruszka, executive director of the Chicago Heights facility. "But the last two months, we've opened up to find 10 to 15 people already waiting in line. And we've had to close by 12:30 (p.m.) because we'd run out of food already." Gruszka says that with energy prices and the economy in the state that they are, people consider pets and the $1,000 or so they cost per year, to be a luxury. "Few families can look at the economy now and think, 'I have an extra $1,000 to spend,' " she said. SOURCE: consumerist.com 
_________________________
"What I do know is that if Karen Carpenter and Mama Cass Elliot had shared that sandwich they'd both be alive today." -Michael K
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#339916 - 06/27/08 05:33 AM
Re: Dogs and Cats Feel the Foreclosure Crisis
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Porn Jesus
Registered: 01/02/05
Posts: 5750
Loc: ATLANTIC CITY
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Well this explains a lot.
About a month ago, I went to look at a home in Eastern Connecticut that had been foreclosed....my brother and I went inside, and I as I am wheeling around I see two piles of what turned out to be cat turds. In the back laundry room a window that had been left open with a screen had been clawed open, which also explained the various insect life we found in the place. The people had obviously left the kitty in the home when they bailed. I am glad we didnt actually find a dead cat, or worse, one crazed with hunger that probably would have attacked us. I would have reported the former owners, but then again, they have enough problems.
_________________________
Are you gonna eat that?
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#339917 - 06/27/08 06:26 AM
Re: Dogs and Cats Feel the Foreclosure Crisis
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Porn Fucking Master
Registered: 05/18/06
Posts: 3555
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my next door neighbors are being foreclosed upon. they're both sixty-three years old and good people. insane.
_________________________
"I'm going to spend the rest of the weekend deep frying the fuck out of anything that gets in my way."
--Handful
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#339923 - 06/27/08 04:36 PM
Re: Dogs and Cats Feel the Foreclosure Crisis
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Tranny Whisperer
Porn Jesus
Registered: 08/02/03
Posts: 9221
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Quote:
Quote:
Where do people go after their place gets foreclosed?
JM Productions in ChATSWORTH....FUCKIN' DUH.
Even the 63-year old ones?
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#339924 - 06/27/08 04:42 PM
Re: Dogs and Cats Feel the Foreclosure Crisis
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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They're going to star in Brandon's newest release: 267 Gum Jobs.
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#339926 - 06/27/08 05:24 PM
Re: Dogs and Cats Feel the Foreclosure Crisis
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Sex Slave Trader
Registered: 01/10/06
Posts: 1487
Loc: NYC
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Quote:
I hope I'm never in a situation where I will lose my house. If I were, I could never get rid of my 2 dogs. They are part of the family. If I can feed myself then I can feed my dogs.
Exactly!
There's no excuse for deserting pets. The "extra thousand per year" is nothing. These are the same people who won't cut back on the high-end toys, junk food, etc. in order to spend the pennies per day it takes to feed a helpless animal.
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#339927 - 06/27/08 07:03 PM
Re: Dogs and Cats Feel the Foreclosure Crisis
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Tranny Whisperer
Porn Jesus
Registered: 08/02/03
Posts: 9221
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Quote:
Quote:
my next door neighbors are being foreclosed upon. they're both sixty-three years old and good people. insane.
I'll tell you what's insane, having a house payment when you're sixty-three. Poor planning. 
What's a good planning then?
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#339931 - 06/28/08 10:19 PM
Re: Dogs and Cats Feel the Foreclosure Crisis
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Kurt Lackwood's Fluffer
Registered: 01/18/06
Posts: 1283
Loc: SoCal
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Probably had to refinance to take out equity to afford to live after their retirement fund was trashed in the stock market by speculators, inside trading, and market manipulation.
I know Fidelity Mutual has done a bang up job with mine. $112 thousand in 1990, $22,600 today.
Thank goodness my home is worth a close to a million, oh wait.... 
_________________________
I'd rather be ignorant than stupid.
Ignorance implies a lack of knowledge which is easily correctable through education.
Stupidity implies an inability to learn.
Therefore; ignorance is temporary, stupidity is forever!
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#339932 - 06/30/08 01:23 PM
Re: Dogs and Cats Feel the Foreclosure Crisis
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Porn Jesus
Registered: 12/28/05
Posts: 4726
Loc: The City That Never Sleeps, Tr...
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#339933 - 07/01/08 08:52 PM
Re: Dogs and Cats Feel the Foreclosure Crisis
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Quote:
Even the 63-year old ones?
Quote:
They're going to star in Brandon's newest release: 267 Gum Jobs.
Told ya...
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#339937 - 07/02/08 07:01 AM
Re: Dogs and Cats Feel the Foreclosure Crisis
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Pervert
Registered: 09/06/03
Posts: 2042
Loc: Ceara's bunny cage
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Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
my next door neighbors are being foreclosed upon. they're both sixty-three years old and good people. insane.
I'll tell you what's insane, having a house payment when you're sixty-three. Poor planning.
i agree. i have no idea why they still have a mortgage at all. ridiculous.
Real Estate people are ridiculous. Theres some kind of real estate society in Australia and they are always trying to put fear in people saying house prices will keep doubling every five years etc etc and soon we will see multigenerational loans etc etc and in a couple of years not even Bill Gates will be able to afford a house in Australia. Even now that USA are going into recession they still keep putting out stupid statements like this that go straight into the papers. I guess ultimately they are trying to look after people in the real estate business but i'm really sick of this business of them trying to put fear into people
Likewise all the dodgy property "investment seminar" people - quick you need to buy up all the houses in Australia or else you'll be naked living in the gutter in a few years... and all the wrappers - "Wow look at me I've bought 1 million properties in 2 years and now i'm raking it in by charging people who can't get a bank loan twice the interest rate on a property whose value i've already inflated
I hate all the negativity and bullying nature of the real estate industry
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#339938 - 07/02/08 11:55 AM
Re: Dogs and Cats Feel the Foreclosure Crisis
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Kurt Lackwood's Fluffer
Registered: 01/18/06
Posts: 1283
Loc: SoCal
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I had it in one of their high-risk portfolio's that lost over 70% of it's value on Black Monday, then got hammered several more times over the course of the next decade. After the whole energy trading fiasco, I took over my own trading (how much worse could I do on my own?). My account was well below the $10K mark at that point. What pissed me off the most was with every posted loss they still made sure to take their operating percentage. Fucking assholes, charging me a fee to lose my money.  In the last couple of years I've more then doubled what was left of my investments. With any luck, I'll break even by the time I retire.
_________________________
I'd rather be ignorant than stupid.
Ignorance implies a lack of knowledge which is easily correctable through education.
Stupidity implies an inability to learn.
Therefore; ignorance is temporary, stupidity is forever!
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#339939 - 07/02/08 12:57 PM
Re: Dogs and Cats Feel the Foreclosure Crisis
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Porn Jesus
Registered: 08/03/03
Posts: 5849
Loc: TX, USA
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Two words: Index Funds
_________________________
"If they can't picture me with a knife, forcing them to strip in an alley, I don't want any part of it. It's humiliating." - windsock
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#339940 - 07/02/08 06:24 PM
Re: Dogs and Cats Feel the Foreclosure Crisis
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Kurt Lackwood's Fluffer
Registered: 01/18/06
Posts: 1283
Loc: SoCal
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Still wouldn't have helped much when the market drops over 900 points in a single day.
_________________________
I'd rather be ignorant than stupid.
Ignorance implies a lack of knowledge which is easily correctable through education.
Stupidity implies an inability to learn.
Therefore; ignorance is temporary, stupidity is forever!
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#339941 - 07/02/08 07:30 PM
Re: Dogs and Cats Feel the Foreclosure Crisis
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Porn Jesus
Registered: 08/09/06
Posts: 9113
Loc: red dirt state of mind
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#339943 - 07/03/08 10:36 AM
Re: Dogs and Cats Feel the Foreclosure Crisis
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Porn Jesus
Registered: 09/07/05
Posts: 14160
Loc: NYC
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jrv, what index funds do you reccommend for me and when should I buy them?
_________________________
"What I do know is that if Karen Carpenter and Mama Cass Elliot had shared that sandwich they'd both be alive today." -Michael K
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#339944 - 07/03/08 11:58 AM
Re: Dogs and Cats Feel the Foreclosure Crisis
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Registered Sex Offender
Registered: 07/09/06
Posts: 2362
Loc: St. Louis
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Gia, it doesn't really matter. An index fund is designed to perform exactly as a particular index. You may want to invest in certain sector index funds, but that kind of defeats the purpose of index investing. Your best course is to invest in a broad index fund like the S&P 500. An index fund's performance will essentially duplicate the performance of the index itself, so it doesn't really matter if you go with Fidelity, Putnam, etc.
_________________________
"Offer them what they secretly want and they of course immediately become panic-stricken."
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#339946 - 07/03/08 12:59 PM
Re: Dogs and Cats Feel the Foreclosure Crisis
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Registered Sex Offender
Registered: 07/09/06
Posts: 2362
Loc: St. Louis
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If you subscribe to the "efficient markets" theory, aka the "random walk" theory, then index funds are the only investment method that make sense. The idea is that over time, the majority of investors will not beat the market, because markets are efficient and all stock prices instantly reflect all information that is available to all investors in the market. I've always had reservations about this theory, but academia and many on Wall Street subscribe to it. One thing I can't dispute is that over time, most investors (professional and amateur) will not significantly do better than the market.
Index funds provide the investor with an easy, low-cost method of managing their investments. Certainly for those who do not have a background in portfolio management theory or statistical analysis, index funds make a great deal of sense. The vast majority of investors who do not have such a background and take an active investment approach, don't do very well over time. For such people, a passive approach (indexing) makes a lot of sense. Another advantage to indexing is the low cost. Index funds do not alter their portfolios at all, so you will not pay or overpay funds managers in management fees.
_________________________
"Offer them what they secretly want and they of course immediately become panic-stricken."
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#339947 - 07/03/08 11:41 PM
Re: Dogs and Cats Feel the Foreclosure Crisis
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Porn Jesus
Registered: 08/03/03
Posts: 5849
Loc: TX, USA
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Quote:
jrv, what index funds do you reccommend for me and when should I buy them?
Vanguard's index funds are the benchmark, and for good reason. The main index fund there everyone has heard of is VFINX, the S&P500 fund. VTSMX is a broader stock index fund (VFINX + small stocks, "total market"). VBINX is that plus bonds, i.e., everything (VBINX is probably too conservative for someone as young as you). There are lots of index funds, but I recommend comparing results and expenses against these Vanguard funds - if any fund under consideration does much worse that's a warning flag.
As for *when* to invest - I don't know how to time the markets. I'm not convinced anyone does. When I get paid anything I don't need before the next payday gets invested - I don't try to guess "when" and outsmart myself. There is usually a minimum for each investment made - I think Vanguard requires at least $250 every time you buy some shares.
I agree with NitneLiun's comments. The low cost of index funds is important, and the fact there aren't (shouldn't be) any loads or 12b-1 fees. They are also typically much more tax-efficient than active funds.
Of the actively-managed fund Dodge & Cox's DODGX stock fund has done well over time.
_________________________
"If they can't picture me with a knife, forcing them to strip in an alley, I don't want any part of it. It's humiliating." - windsock
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#339949 - 07/03/08 11:59 PM
Re: Dogs and Cats Feel the Foreclosure Crisis
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Kurt Lackwood's Fluffer
Registered: 01/18/06
Posts: 1283
Loc: SoCal
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Quote:
If you subscribe to the "efficient markets" theory, aka the "random walk" theory, then index funds are the only investment method that make sense. The idea is that over time, the majority of investors will not beat the market, because markets are efficient and all stock prices instantly reflect all information that is available to all investors in the market. I've always had reservations about this theory, but academia and many on Wall Street subscribe to it. One thing I can't dispute is that over time, most investors (professional and amateur) will not significantly do better than the market.
Index funds provide the investor with an easy, low-cost method of managing their investments. Certainly for those who do not have a background in portfolio management theory or statistical analysis, index funds make a great deal of sense. The vast majority of investors who do not have such a background and take an active investment approach, don't do very well over time. For such people, a passive approach (indexing) makes a lot of sense. Another advantage to indexing is the low cost. Index funds do not alter their portfolios at all, so you will not pay or overpay funds managers in management fees.
That may be why I'm doing better on my own. 50% of my investment are currently in a Chinese Index fund.
_________________________
I'd rather be ignorant than stupid.
Ignorance implies a lack of knowledge which is easily correctable through education.
Stupidity implies an inability to learn.
Therefore; ignorance is temporary, stupidity is forever!
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#339950 - 07/04/08 12:49 AM
Re: Dogs and Cats Feel the Foreclosure Crisis
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Registered Sex Offender
Registered: 03/12/03
Posts: 2458
Loc: I'm the fucker behind the curt...
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Quote:
jrv, what index funds do you reccommend for me and when should I buy them?
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#339951 - 07/04/08 07:33 AM
Re: Dogs and Cats Feel the Foreclosure Crisis
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Porn Jesus
Registered: 01/02/05
Posts: 5750
Loc: ATLANTIC CITY
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Dean Wormer's point is right on th money. Since most people dont have 6 figures to plop down, their everyday local bank is th place they should be visiting and asking around for advice and seeing what's available. These people are more than happy to help, not only because most sit around all day doing jack, but because you are already a customer and if you are happy, you will, probably, bring in another customr or three just like you.
Aside from the advantages already noted, if you are a intelligent person, you can almost teach yourself a shitload about investing by using your local bank's services to the fullest. It's right down the street, no calling or e-mailing some shithead broker or rep from a HUGE company and hoping he calls you back before 10 O'clock next summer. You just walk in and talk/ask/bitch about/change whatever you want.
Fat Drunk Supid...and broke is no way to go through life kids.
_________________________
Are you gonna eat that?
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#339952 - 07/04/08 10:32 PM
Re: Dogs and Cats Feel the Foreclosure Crisis
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Porn Jesus
Registered: 01/07/06
Posts: 4268
Loc: Portland
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Will have to agree with the common sense approach of the Vanguard Index Funds.
Instead of "actively" trying to guess the ups and downs of the market, Vanguard simply uses their buying power to purchase stocks in bulk and in-line with the philosophy of the fund. Thus, their trading rates are very low (probably all done with computers; who needs a "manager"?).
My workplace offers, in addition to their own diversified fund (7% of my paycheck is matched, and goes into it, no opt out), options for my own investments into 15 other funds, half of which are Vanguard Index Funds.
I invest in 20 % each of Vanguard Index Small Cap/Mid Cap/S&P 500 + 40% in International and have done quite well...I had 40.3% in 2006...
Until 2008...the worst first 6 months since 1971 (another parallel between Nixon and Bush Jr.).
At 5/31, my NW = $250K*; today it's $236K, INCLUDING 2 months worth of pay/investing (i.e., not a static amount).
*-For one brief, shiny moment, I was a "Quarternaire" and was getting ready to buy my first monocle.
_________________________
"My people (the real Americans- descended from the original Angle-Saxon pioneers)"-Coke S.
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