Category: Good Mood

2015

Happy Face 

Happy New Year!!

The New Year could be one of the best for Americans. There are many indicators to support this forecast. That would not include Nouriel Roubini. He has a history of negative forecasts so I wouldn’t pay attention to him.

Beaconomics forecasts Incomes, Consumer Spending on the Rise: As job growth continues, worker incomes are expected to expand in 2015, something that will keep consumer spending growing and encourage those who have dropped out of the workforce to re-enter.

The GDP for the third quarter of 2014 initially reported growth of 3.5% and subsequently has raised that number to 5%. Unemployment is now reported at 5.8% which is not great but is definitely going in the right direction. The stock market has set new records this year and is now at a new high that won’t help everyone but will motivate people to spend and perhaps hire more people.  Gasoline is at unbelieveably low prices.

Goldman Sachs’s chief economist Jan Hatzius just published answers to what he believes are the eight top questions for next year.

Here’s a list of the questions asked by Business Insider and a quick summaries of his thoughts:

  1. Will the US economy continue to grow above trend? Yes. Domestic strength should offset weakness from other economies.
  2. Will the dollar appreciation weigh on growth? Yes, but it’s manageable in the short term because of lower oil prices.
  3. Will the housing recovery accelerate? Yes, especially in the single-family sector. Household formation should improve as young adults move out of their parents’ homes.
  4. Will consumer spending growth accelerate? Yes, as real disposable income increases because of lower oil prices.
  5. Will capital spending growth accelerate further? No. Business capital spending does not look depressed relative to the long-term fundamentals and the decline in oil prices is likely to take a toll on energy sector.
  6. Will wage growth move into the 3%-4% range identified by Chair Yellen as “normal”? No. There’s still slack in the labor market as measured by the U6 underemployment rate.
  7. Will core inflation rise toward the Fed’s 2% target?No. The dollar is strong, wage growth is low, and depressed oil prices should have a negative impact.
  8. Will the Fed hike rates by the June FOMC meeting? No, because inflation probably won’t hit the 2% target. “Based on our below-consensus forecasts for wage and price inflation we expect the first funds rate hike to occur after June 2015; our base case is September,” Hatzius said.

So in summary, the US economy will grow together with the dollar, faster than its global peers. But inflation below the Fed’s target will push its rate hike back to at least September, and the impact of lower oil prices will continue to be felt throughout the economy.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/jan-hatzius-top-questions-for-2015-2014-12#ixzz3NFdpC9as

Jews Wrote the Most Beloved Christmas Songs

Lauren Markoe wrote this piece for the Religion News Service.  PBS also had a program on the contribution of Jewish composers to favorite Christian music.
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Christians don’t seem to mind that so many beloved Christmas songs were written by Jews, and Jews tend to reel off the list with pride.

“White Christmas”; “Let It Snow”; “Santa Baby”; “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”; “Silver Bells”; “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”; “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire” (popular line from “The Christmas Song”).

Those not mentioned here could fill an album.

But why didn’t the Jews write any similarly iconic songs for their holiday that falls around Christmas time: Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights?

“I Have a Little Dreidl”? Great song … if you’re 4.

There are reasons that Jews are good at Christmas songs and why so many of these songs became so popular. And there are reasons why Jews didn’t write similarly catchy tunes for Hanukkah – or any other Jewish holiday.

In the first half of the 20th century, Jews flocked the music industry.
It was one business here they didn’t face overwhelming anti-Semitism, said Michael Feinstein, the Emmy Award-winning interpreter of American musical standards.

“White Christmas,” written by Jewish lyricist Irving Berlin, topped the charts in 1942 and launched popular Christmas music, encouraging many others – Jews and non-Jews – to write more odes to the holiday.

And although celebrating the birth of Christ was not something these Jewish songwriters would want to do, they could feel comfortable composing more secular Christmas singles.

“The Christmas songs that are popular are not about Jesus, but they’re about sleigh bells and Santa and the trappings of Christmas,” Feinstein said. “They’re not religious songs.”

In their music and lyrics, Jews captured Christmas not only as a wonderful, wintry time for family gatherings, but also as an American Holiday.

What they drew on, said Rabbi Kenneth Kanter, an expert on Jews and popular culture at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, was their background as the children of European-born Jews, or as immigrants themselves, in the case of Russian-born Berlin and others.

Jewish songwriters’ own successful assimilation and gratitude to America pervades their mid-century Christmas and other songs, and appealed to a country that wanted to feel brave and united as it fought World War II.

“These songs made Christmas a kind of national celebration, almost a patriotic celebration,” Kanter said.

The nonreligious nature of these Christmas songs may not sit well with pious Christians, said Feinstein, who is Jewish and who cut “Michael Feinstein Christmas,” among many other albums.

But they are now part of the fabric of our larger culture, he said, and “any singer who is a singer of the American song book will sing Christmas songs,” said Feinstein.

“We all sing them.”

Have a Merry Christmas/Hanukkah

Cactus Garden and Mystery Home

I have been driving by this unique garden and home for decades. It is on the road to Malibu. I use Topanga Canyon Boulevard as an alternate route from West Los Angeles when the freeways are shut down due to fires or serious car accidents.

Finally I decided to stop a take some photos. The garden is listed on Yelp and Yahoo. As it happens the adjoining house is For Sale. Thus there are real estate photos on line. Asking price for this 4700 square foot home is $1.2 Million. Four bedrooms and four full baths on a .44 acre lot. The house was built in 1931.

There appears to be an abandoned road next to the corner as shown in the first picture.   Notice the flirtatious Cupid.  Clicking on the pictures gives you a better view.

Location map

4562 Map

My photos all taken with my Panasonic DMC-FZ150:

Heading south as you leave the San Fernando Valley:

 

P1030506P1030512P1030512 closeupP1030511P1030510P1030508

Heading north entering the San Fernando Valley from Topanga Canyon:

P1030501

 

Real Estate listing photos of the house. Repaved the street and glossed the photos all thanks to Photoshop

4562 Topanga Blvd #1_edited-2

woodland hills #1 woodland hills #3 woodland hills #4

The United States Constitution signed September 17, 1787

The work of some great men who envisioned a new form of government that represented all the people.  It begins with a preamble.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

This is applicable where ever there are high paid politicians, executives, and all those other public speakers. They all talk about what society should be doing for the less well off. Not the homeless but the working poor and middle class who are trying to sustain their way of life and perhaps just get somewhat ahead.

Now a university president is putting his money where his mouth is. Raymond Burse, who leads Kentucky State University as interim president, will give up $90,000 of his salary so that 24 low wage workers on campus can earn $10.25 an hour.

Burse, whose annual income is about $350,000, said he thought for about eight weeks about the decision to take the pay cut and then brought it to the university’s board. He described the board’s reaction as “shock’ when they found out.

Asked whether he thought that his decision to cut his own salary might start a trend with other university heads, Burse said, “I don’t know. I did it as an individual thing and I can afford to do it.” All the details here.

Raymond Burse-kentucky-state-university-interim presidentKentucky State University’s president was the youngest of 13 children and said he learned the value of hard manual work and education from his parents.

So where is Michael Bloomberg, George Soros, the Clintons, all the other well to do “liberals” in America who talk about their concern for the less well off? They are nowhere to be found.

Why is that?

As they say, “talk is cheap.” We need more Raymond Burses in this world.

Compromise is not a Dirty Word

Some random thoughts.

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The more suggestions the better. At some point in time we will have to reach a compromise. Those that refuse to compromise need to be ignored. Compromise is not a dirty word.

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“Barack Obama believes in government; we believe in you.” This is not what Americans want to hear. Americans want to hear the ways our government will make America more successful. Does “we believe in you” mean we will do nothing to further America? It is a hands off philosophy that would make Ayn Rand proud.

American government has continuously invested in the country. First it was canals and postal roads. Then it was the railroads and building highways. It was America that stood up to the Soviet Union with the Marshall Plan and the G.I. bill that sent our WWII vets back to school. It was America that put a man on the moon.

We don’t want a do nothing government. We want a government that helps lead the country to new successes!

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The median American family income in 2009 was $49,777, not statistically different from the 2008 median according to the U.S. Census Bureau. (Arithmetic Median Definition: Median is the middle of the given numbers or distribution in their ascending order.) The U.S. Census Bureau also reports that 43.6 million people in 2009 were defined as being in poverty.

However over 1% of the population has earnings of more than $250,000 per year. That is more than 3 million people. The GOP obtained extension of Bush income tax cuts for that group. Even worse is capital gains are taxed at 15% while salaries are taxed on a graduated tax scale. Thus a family earning taxable income of $212,300 – $379,150 is in the 33% tax bracket.

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Representative Paul Ryan is the un-Robin Hood.

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On Social Security.  As I listen and watch political talk shows it is obvious that politicians do not want to deal with this issue. There are only four possible solutions and even a combination of solutions is too hot for most people.

  • Raise the retirement age.
  • Raise taxes.
  • Lower benefits.
  • Change the plan to a private investment option that does not guarantee a specific payout.

Since politicians won’t deal with the problem the solution is an independent commission similar to the commission that raised taxes and the retirement age. The National Commission on Social Security Reform, chaired by Alan Greenspan in 1983 was the last time changes were made. The next commission will have to take more drastic measures to ensure the viability of the system.

Home to Presidents and President Want-to-Bes

Southern California is the home of everyone who wants to elude the extreme weather that is so prevalent in the rest of this country. Summers may be hot but the humidity is mild. It only snows in the nearby mountains. Movie stars, entertainers (like Justin Bieber) and so many politicians. It is called a Mediterranean climate.  Yes it’s true, you could surf board in the morning and ski in the afternoon all in the same day.

Richard Nixon to San Clemente at the south end of Orange County. Mitt Romney bought a home in La Jolla, a suburb of San Diego, President Gerald R. Ford moved to Rancho Mirage, and now the Los Angeles Times says that Barack and Michelle Obama are rumored to be buying a house in Rancho Mirage. 

“The First Family is believed to be in escrow on a contemporary home in a gated community where entertainers Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby once maintained estates,” Says the Times.

Barack Obama's Rancho Mirage Home

For those of you not familiar with the area, Rancho Mirage is the upscale Palm Springs where gated communities and golf courses are everywhere. Yes there is a Dinah Shore Drive, Frank Sinatra Drive, and a Bob Hope Drive in that town. Median family income in Rancho Mirage in 2009 was $92,831. 21.2% (976) had income > $200k. My source city-data.com. Read more: http://www.city-data.com/income/income-Rancho-Mirage-California.html#ixzz38ANKIkhs

ABC’s ‘Modern Family’ house in L.A. sells for $2.15 million

Modern Family - Dunphy's House

Exterior shots of the home, found in Cheviot Hills, were used to portray the family residence of Phil and Claire Dunphy. (Media Carrot Photography | Inset: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)

The Cheviot Hills (West Los Angeles area of upper middle class families) home is used as the fictional family residence of Phil and Claire Dunphy on the sitcom. And no, Phil was not the listing agent. Only the exteriors of the house are used to depict the Dunphy residence on the show. Interiors scenes are shot on soundstages.

Cheviot Hills is located about between Sony Studios and Fox studios.  Median household income of $103,165.  Close enough to the beach to feel a cool ocean breeze without too much morning fog.  There is a nice pitch and putt 9 hole golf course nearby.  When single, I lived nearby.  Lots of memories.

More pictures of this house here