DTEJD1997

I don't think there is any way to do this in a direct way you are thinking about... The thing that comes to mind quickest is to maybe set up your own competing business. If the competitor is weak, you could take their customers & sales. Another way might be to alert their competitors. For example, if you've got a weak grocery store or hotel, alert one of their competitors to the opportunity. How does that benefit you though?

Hey all: Here in S.E Michigan, everything is literally crumbling & falling apart. This is no joke... There are also tens of thousands of houses/buildings that need to be torn down. The roads are easily the worst in the country. Many bridges/overpasses are literally falling apart. They have netting attached so that if a piece falls off, it wont' damage a vehicle pedestrian. I've also started to notice wrappings around support pillars too. I also have a friend who is an engineer in the water works for the city of Detroit. He says that a shocking percentage of water mains/pipes are 100+ years old. Some of these things were supposed to be replaced 30 years ago. So you've got a post-apocalyptic landscape with crumbling roads and water/sewer pipes. You could have an army of 10,000 workers in the tri-county area working non-stop for YEARS to fix the infrastructure. Yet, unemployment remains very high here. I just don't get it...So much work NEEDS to be done, but we've got so many people just laying about...

I am not 100% sure as I have not done the research on it. HOWEVER, I am going to guess that if you are capable of buying a 2nd or 3rd car, you are paying cash or have good enough credit to get standard type loans on it. Who is paying 20% interest on 3 vehicles?

Yes, it does. Although people losing their car(s) is obviously much different than losing their home. I doubt there will be much economic significance if a large number of people default on their auto payments. I am not sure about this... In the last great meltdown (2008), a lot of people let their houses go & kept up on their car loans. If worse comes to worse, you can live out of your car. You absolutely need your car to run errands and get to work. In other words, a car is more important than a house. Could it be that people lost their houses in the last meltdown. Now they are living with family/friends, have lost their jobs, and are now letting their cars go? If people are now letting their cars go, why is it different this time around?

Hey all: I was playing poker the other day with a property owner/developer. He owns several properties in Genesee County Michigan. He owns a couple of properties in Flint, but most of them are outside of Flint, but in Genesee County. In the course of our conversation, he brought up a couple of crazy points... A). Insurance on some properties is not available, OR available at SILLY prices. What did he mean by this? Well, he has some rental house worth about $40k, that would cost $8k a year to insure. Most insurance carriers won't even write this type of insurance...So how does one get a mortgage on such properties? Well, he explained that you don't. The market is simply a cash market. This reminds me of the auto insurance market in Detroit.... B). All sorts of goofiness is going on in the lead in the water catastrophe. All sorts of mundane, run of the mill graft & corruption is going on of course...but he brought up a good point. Why is the government going to spend HUGE amounts of money to redo pipes to pieces of property that aren't even worth what is being spend reworking the pipes? Perhaps a better use of the money might be simply to move people out of Flint. Huge amounts of money are going to be spent on property that is worth nothing, on people that have no jobs, no hope, and no future. Why not spend that money and give people a shot at a better life?

I suspected that was the reason. But I think your solution won't be very effective. There is no good substitute for strong families and a good environment. I read a lot of Thomas Sowell. One thing he talks about repeatedly is the vast and incredible difference between black-dominated neighbours during the 1950's and today. There is enormous interest and incentive on the part of liberals to deny that black families were ever ok but its just an enormous lie. There was a time when a black kid could receive education on par with white kids and he could grow up in a relatively safe neighbourhood. Well yes, you are absolutely correct. Unfortunately, I think it is easier to change the skool system than to change culture and families. In an ideal world, both would be changed. What is interesting is that the white culture is catching up with black culture. The number of white children being born to single parent households is rapidly rising... Most liberals actually like/encourage this.

Hey all: Just down the way from me there is a big hearing on the Central States Teamsters pensions today at Wayne State. Turns out their pension system is bust. Most retirees are going to take at least 1/2 cut in their pension. I read up a little bit about it, and was shocked by what I found out. They have about $17 billion in assets with 440k (220k retired) members. That is only $42,500 in assets per member! Most of their pensions are paying out at $3k per month! Simply shocking...I don't see how they even maintain the pension after 1/2 cuts. Lots of people are going to be hurt bad. It is unfortunate, but I don't see any other way. There simply is no money... Anybody hear/know anything about this?

I always thought this was the problem with education...the sheltering from the outside world. Why do you think that is a good thing? I guess I should have prefaced that statement with that it should apply primarily to inner city schools (but not exclusively). That is a good thing because what some of the students face is absolutely heartbreaking & a detriment to their education & development. For example, I've heard stories of children not being fed breakfast, kindergartners not knowing their name, children coming in wet as their clothes were not dried after being washed...and on and on. Lots of children are coming from broken homes. The environment in most Detroit neighborhoods can best be described as post apocalyptic. So there are challenges beyond pure academics.... Conversely, it would quell excuses & discontent for one reason or another. All reasonable keys to an education are being provided, the parents & children are free to take advantage of it, or not.

Most of these already exist in a lot of public school districts. The issue, as others have pointed out, is involvement at the student and parent level. If kids don't want to be involved they're not going to take advantage of any perks the school system is providing no matter how great you make it. I tend to lean toward libertarian solutions in most things but I also realize that government's involvement in education runs so deep and at so many levels it will probably never be cut out. Even if the federal government was to leave education alone, we'd still have city, county, school district and state level bureaucracies involved. As I said in my previous post, I think there are effective solutions out there and part of the challenge is just allowing them to rise to the top in areas where the public education system has a de facto monopoly on the process. If private, subsidized-private and public schools are all affordable choices for most parents, I think we would see some innovative solutions to local education issues, solutions not constrained by multiple layers of bureaucracy. Pelagic: You are right. A lot of districts have SOME of these things going, but not all of them. A lot of them are also shoddily and haphazardly provided. It is critical to have ALL OF THEM. The school should be a place where a student can study comfortably and get some shelter from the outside world. The OTHER critical factor is to get rid of compulsory education. If a significant percentage (as it stands currently) of the student population is disruptive/hostile, the whole thing falls apart. Those that don't want education don't have to get it. They can do ANYTHING they want as long as they don't break the law or hassle anybody else...

Hey all: Another point I would like to bring up is that a lot of members on this site are probably disconnected and unaware of what is actually going on in the schools of inner city America. I was born & raised in the city of Detroit. I moved back to the Detroit area just over a year ago. While I currently do not live within city limits, I live less than 1 mile away. I have/had family members who were employees of the City of Detroit and know several people who work/worked in the school system. What is going on is absolutely shocking on so many different levels. American society has got a real problem when hundreds of thousands or millions of students don't manage to graduate from High School. The problem is further compounded by "social advancement". Many graduates can barely read or do basic math. The quality of all high school educations has gone down tremendously in the past 50 years. This is especially the case in inner city schools. It has now come to the point where there are lost generations because of this. For those that think I am hysterical or exaggerating please see this tremendous video produced by Dan Rather a few years ago. It really only scratches the surface, but it is a quality production. It is almost two hours in length. Please point your browser to:

Hey all: In addition to getting rid of compulsory education and shutting down a LOT of schools. I would do the following: A). Schools would open up maybe an hour before classes begin. Breakfast would be served for a vastly discounted price. Something like $.25. B). Students would get pens, paper, pencils, books, book bag. Everything basic that they would need. C). Lunches would be served at vastly discounted prices...again, something like $.25 D). The library & cafeteria would be open AFTER classes end, maybe till like 7-8 pm. Snacks or light dinners would be offered at discounted prices. E). Students could do their homework in the library. F). The gym might also be open so that students could exercise. Food would actually be tasty, hearty, and somewhat nutritious. With this accomplished, students would have almost everything needed & provided to get a basic education. While nobody would have attend school, it would be encouraged. While in school, discipline would be brutal & strict. Students are going to know who is in charge. School is primarily a place for LEARNING, not warehousing criminals till the graduate to the prison system. If a student is kicked out, they have to wait 1 year to get back in. Students that were outside the system and now decide that they want back in should also be encouraged. An education should hopefully be for everyone...but only if they actually want it.

ah, a topic near & dear to my heart! I have some CRAZY ideas because I've been through some crazy things and seen some goofy stuff. First thing to do is get rid of compulsory education....Who are we to say that people have to get educated? Especially if they don't want it or are hostile to it? I would make an argument that if a certain percentage of kids were simply let go, graduation rates would actually GO UP. The quality of education would certainly go up also. Think of all the skools where disruptive children are ruining it for children that are: A). Actually trying to get an education B). Are on the fence. They could go either way...but they fall on the "wrong side" because the inmates are running the asylum. Just think of all the capital & resources that would also be saved if we were not educating children that did not want it. With that being said, I think that ALL children should be encouraged to get an education. We could have PSA announcements "Don't be a fool, stay in school!" On a different note, CORRUPTION HAS GOT TO GO! Administrators & teachers who are gaming & stealing from the system and engaged in graft need to do SERIOUS JAIL TIME. Educators absolutely have to be accountable for their crimes. This is across the board! There is also a movement to jail educators who are simply derelict in their duty to be educators. There is a nascent movement to do this in Detroit: http://www.foxnews.com/story/2009/12/14/detroit-parents-demand-jail-time-for-teachers-over-low-test-scores.html The mess that is the Detroit Public Schools is almost beyond comprehension...They have problems with vermin infestation....lots of schools have problems with heating/cooling. Some gyms have warped floors and are no longer suitable to be used for classes. Many schools have outages of soap & toilet paper. Mold problems. Lots of classrooms don't have chalk, paper, books, etc. There is also a discipline problem. Go to the "YouTube" and type in "Detroit Schools" & "Fight". Teachers must get control of the class. Discipline must be meted out. It must be fast & brutal...not swatting with a broom stick. TRIGGER WARNING: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqTJoxi2sC8 The teacher in that video was fired for breaking up that fight. Please see: http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2015/06/09/teacher-tried-break-fight-broom-sues-district/28737729/ This type of stuff is not all that uncommon in DPS. As you can see from the article & video, the teachers & skools are not in charge. So you've got a physical plant problem, you've got a discipline problem and then that leads to children not getting educated. 93% of children in Detroit are not proficient in reading and 96% are not proficient in Math. Please see: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/detroit-public-schools-93-not-proficient-reading-96-not-proficient DPS is spending $18,362 per student. Clearly it is not a lack of money. These problems then lead to low graduation rates. DPS claims to have a graduation rate of 70% up from 65% of prior years. There are rumors floating around that the real rate is substantially less than this though... Unfortunately, the problems with DPS have been going on for DECADES. Detroit is bad, very bad, but other inner city skools are not far behind... It is simply shocking how many people in this country DO NOT graduate high school.

In some ways I feel like DTEJD1997 completely trolled this forum. The guy is a coin dealer and I believe owns a coin store. There was a thread on this a year or two back. He's talking his book like anyone else here talking some stock. I think it'd be interesting to know how many people on here could really pull together $4-5k in a day or two (probably most, but this is also a board filled with rich people). I worked at a place with stock options that needed to be exercised with cash and in talking to co-workers the common response was "who has $3k in cash laying around?" The idea that anyone even had that sort of money available was absurd. The original intent of this thread was exactly what I said it was...the discussion of the importance of having some amount of currency on you and readily accessible....How people have kind of forgotten/ignored that. I also wanted to share some of my observations of what I am seeing in my personal life...and my thoughts on the subject. I do not own a coin store. I was looking at purchasing one somewhat over a year ago, but never did for a variety of reasons. I do sell/trade gold/silver as kind of a hobby...but I don't do business with anyone on this board (to my knowledge). Nor do I look to solicit any business from this board. I think you guys are just a bit too skeptical...

There is a VERY easy way to avoid counterfeiting problems with silver.... A). Know what you are doing B). Deal with reputable people C). MOST IMPORTANTLY, buy USA coins. If you buy common "90% junk silver" I've NEVER heard of anyone getting fake stuff. Not a single time. This is the vast majority of my silver. Who is going to counterfeit a 1962 silver quarter?

I regularly send & receive gold/silver through the mail and RARELY have a problem, well less than 1% of the time. You are absolutely correct that gold may be ponderous for most transactions, that is why you have silver. Silver is for most regular commerce, gold is for wealth preservation. A silver dime is easily worth 1 gallon of gas, a loaf of bread... You can also buy gold in smaller amounts than 1 oz. 1/10 oz. gold eagles are popular. I've seen gold coins as small as 1/20 oz. You always have to be careful when buying physical gold/silver so that you don't pay too high a premium. A lot of transaction with gold/silver take place face to face...so you don't have to worry about mail, validity of a check, etc. I live in a larger sized city and there are many reputable dealers that will pay you a fair price for your gold. The value of gold/silver will certainly fluctuate, but it holds it's value over long periods of time better than cash...no doubt about that. I have a "$100 gold note" from 1926. You could trade it in for 5 $20 gold St. Gaudens coins. The weight of these coins is close to 5 oz. All are still legal tender today...what is worth more? A circulated $100 gold note or 5 circulated $20 gold St. Gaudens? Not even close...not even close by orders of magnitude...the St. Gaudens are worth at a minimum $5,500. The gold note is worth about $120. While gold & silver is certainly very important...it is important not to go overboard. I would think 5% of one's wealth is a good amount to have. The vast, vast majority of my wealth is still in the market. I think that is the way it should be for most people. People having NO cash, NO gold or silver are making a mistake. Having some is a very prudent insurance & hedge.

If you are aware of the problems of plastic, and are moving towards cash...Then you will realize there are all sorts of problems with cash too. One of the major problems is that over long periods of time, cash simply does not hold it's value. Gold & silver do hold their value over long periods of time. Cash also still has a counter party risk. While the risk is MUCH lower than with plastic, it is still there. Gold & Silver don't have this problem. Moving some amount of wealth into physical gold & silver can counter some of the problems with holding large amounts of cash. I have good amounts of silver & gold. I think people that DON'T are extremely foolish/naive. If there is enough interest in this, perhaps it can be stock for yet another thread...

[J/K] I do not recall any of my electronic devices falling out at some time in 1859. Maybe I'm just fading mentally, or I'm in an early stage stage of Alzheimers - ref. my signature here on board... [/J/K] Do you mean 1959, or what? Here we have a rule of never leaving home without some kind of cash pocket money in the wallet, what is considered an appropriate figure [and currency] depends on what's planned to happen. Cardboard is entirely correct... Look it up on the interweb... I didn't want to bring this up (yet), as I didn't want to come across as an alarmist.

Writser: I am shocked!!!! What about strippers & "making it rain" at strip clubs? Please don't neglect this important point...

Hey all: I've decided to start a new thread rather than glom onto the Outerwall (OUTR) thread. I this thread, I wish to have a discussion about the importance of cash and also about silver & gold. I think cash is very important, and many, many people are taking big chances relying on debit & credit cards. I can give many different examples of why this is, but let me start with a few stories.... A). Way back when (2003?) there a BIG power outage in the the NE & Midwest. I had to travel that day. In fact, the outage hit 5 minutes after I left my house. I heard of it on the radio, and figured out I better fill up with gas. When I got the station, long lines were starting to form. Many people couldn't get gas, as the credit card network was down. The station was accepting CASH ONLY. I filled up (paid cash) and got on the freeway and made it my destination. If there are power disruptions, "plastic" cash is going to have a very difficult time. B). Back in 2008, a lot of business owners I knew at the time paid bills & bought inventory on their AMEX & other credit cards. I'm talking about serious amounts...not $100 here or there. Some of them had EXCELLENT credit...some were skating close to the edge. Some of them went bust, as their credit lines went from $50k+ to $5k...or they were cut off completely as they had outstanding balances which suddenly became their limit. As they paid off their balances, their limits were reduced. Under normal economic conditions, this was not a problem...but in 2008, this became a major problem. Of course, businessmen should not be financing their business off of access to credit limits on credit cards... C). My ex-girlfriend would leave the house with literally PENNIES in her purse. Why should she carry cash? She had a debit & credit card. We were driving after dinner & movie in her car, we went to a different restaurant and all of a sudden she is at 1/16 tank of gas & are in a terrible neighborhood late at night. We pull into a gas station. Her magnetic strip on the credit card had a scratch & didn't work. Her debit card was not accepted for some reason at the station (wrong network?). She needed gas RIGHT NOW! Fortunately, I had plenty of cash...but I made sure she never left the house without a $20 bill in her purse after that... D). Electronic transactions drive the price of everything up for everybody. The merchants are going to add the processing cost back into the price of the item. E). My "wise" uncle also does not like cash. He likes to keep it in the bank to get the juicy, juicy interest! He keeps a minimum amount in his checking account (debit card) & puts the rest into an interest bearing account. Puts everything onto the debit card. One day he forgets about something and miscalculates his balance. This sets off a cascade of overdraft charges resulting in $400 of fees. I ask him how much that cost him vs. the "interest" he made on cleverly managing his money. I can't print his expletive filled tirade here... F). You are relying on a counter party for credit cards & plastic. What happens if the counter party goes under, has stress, is hacked, has problems? Cash does not have this problem. G). CRIME!!!!! How much cash has been robbed from you in the past ten years? How many instances of fraud have you had on plastic accounts? I have not lost a penny from being robbed, having cash stolen. Not the case with plastic... I ALWAYS carry cash on me. I will use plastic if it is convenient & I can get cash back...but I also use a lot of cash. I guess that is enough of a start to get the conversation going.

I am surprised that some people think that Trump won't win... Who is going to beat him? Hillary? Hillary's biggest problem will be staying out of jail. If by some chance that doesn't happen, she'll get destroyed in the debates. What about all the scandals? Whitewater, bimbo eruptions, N. Korea, Vince Foster, Monica Lewinsky, foreign donations, Clinton Foundation, confidential & secret emails, Benghazi, Arab Spring....that is just what I could remember off the top of my head. She simply has too much baggage. Who is an enthusiastic Hillary supporter? This election will be nothing like the last one... The electorate is absolutely fit to be tied. Many, many, many people think establishment politicians have sold the country out. This is not only on the right of the political spectrum, but the left as well. We'll see...

Cevian, Do you speak from experience? Can you elaborate? The only "experience" I have pertaining to this is a friend of mine has looked at private businesses and has not come across anything even remotely interesting. As he digs into the businesses he has found numerous issues regarding mismanagement, accounting issues, employee issues. Thanks, AtlCDore Could it be that most private businesses that are truly exceptionally profitable are NOT up for sale...passed down through the family OR owned by the managers? Maybe if for some reason they are up for sale, they are "private" sales? Somebody is already lined up to buy it? I've seen a lot of stuff for sale through business brokers. Most of the time the businesses are JUNK. Some of the better ones have you wind up buying a job. The ones that are pretty good are priced so high as to not make sense...

Hey all: SuperValu (SVU) is potentially VERY cheap. Not only is it low priced based on earnings...they are going to spin out a subsidiary (Save-A-Lot). Save-A-Lot is a limited service, deep discount grocery chain. I believe it is meant to be a competitor to Aldi. About 6 months there was chatter that this division was easily worth over $1BB, with some estimates being put at $1.7BB. SVU is now worth $1.2BB. Sales were off a bit (-2%), and the stock promptly collapsed down to $4.50/share. Earnings are at $.61/share, giving it a P/E of about 7.5. If the Save-A-Lot spinoff is handled well, or even just competently, there could be tremendous upside here. Any thoughts?

Hey all: If a company has stable earnings, I absolutely think they should pay a dividend. A). It focuses management's attention on capital allocation to some degree. They know they've got to keep the business going, expand AND pay the dividend OR there will be hell to pay. B). It helps prevent huge losses & blowouts. A good example of this is AWLCF. I'm getting killed on the share price, but when you factor back in dividends, my loss is relatively small. Another example might be GM. Company was rock solid for years, then ultimately went bankrupt. If you collected a dividend along the way, it reduced your risk.

Hey all: If several, or most, or all of the higher end skools are NOT giving out "F's" or "D's" to those who so richly deserve them...then their gig is getting close to being up. It is also further proof that they are selling a bill of goods to students. How are they going to collect more money from the customer if they flunk them out? Maybe they don't want to upset the customer so much that they take their business elsewhere? When I was in school this certainly wasn't the case. Profs would frequently try to work with students who were struggling, but if it did not work, D's & F's were used. I knew several people who flunked out...

Hey all: I just bought some SVU. I figure it is good because they are going to spin off "Sav-a-lot" to shareholders. Anybody have any ideas on this? I'll be starting a thread on SVU if there is not one already.