Happy New Year.
I was hoping to start the new year with some great positive, uplifting information. I honestly tried. I woke this morning feeling great, looking at a sunny sky, and feeling like Ralphie after he discovered his Red Ryder 200 shot Carbine was really a Christmas present after all.
Unfortunately, that all went south after finding out that a 21 year old pregnant female was killed by a suspected 30 year old drunk driver, as she sat in a friends' vehicle that was awaiting roadside assistance on the freeway. The unborn child was also killed and two other occupants, as well as the drunk driver, were taken to a local hospital with major injuries. The suspected drunk driver was arrested for felony DUI.
In our county, this is the third fatality in less than 12 hours, at least two of which are attributable to drunk driving. More injuries can be attributed to drunk and impaired driving as well. Even with DUI checkpoints and saturation patrols, the carnage continues.
Worse, the numbers continue to climb. Are there more DUI arrests because there are more people being caught? Or because there are more people driving under the influence? The television stations report more drivers are using their cell phones to turn in drivers who appear impaired. If the numbers are climbing because of vigilance and closer scrutiny by the law enforcement authorities and the public, it's a good thing. If it's because more people are driving under the influence, it's not.
At one time I was appalled to hear that 41% of all people on the road were impaired by some substance, legal, illegal or otherwise. That's a huge figure. Look at it this way...if you're sitting in your vehicle, there's a huge potential that the person next to you, and either the one ahead or behind you, is impaired. Two out of the four vehicles surrounding you! Whew...that's one helluva number! That's plain scary at freeway speeds!
Bottom line is that if you drink, or otherwise are impaired, please don't drive. Take a cab, bus, or have a sober designated driver. That young pregnant mother-to-be didn't deserve to die on a cold, dark freeway this morning. She didn't do anything wrong; she was an innocent victim who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. That's the tragedy of most of the victims of drunk drivers. They happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, or get in the vehicle with the wrong driver without thinking, as they themselves are impaired.
I wish you a safe and healthy New Year filled with love and peace.
Showing posts with label San Diego. Show all posts
Showing posts with label San Diego. Show all posts
Friday, January 1, 2010
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Apartment Rent - Hard Times for The Real Working Class
WTF?? When did apartment rents become so unaffordable that a full time working person could hardly afford to put a roof over their head? Oh, wait, that excludes the illegals and the unmentioned families who stuff eight and ten people in an apartment, and each chips in a couple of hundred for the rent, while they collect welfare and live on the dole! Forget about those losers!
I'm talking about the single income man or woman, or single parent, who works their tail off, full time, and maybe overtime, at a decent job, and tries to live in a decent place. They go to an apartment complex and are told the rent for a one-bedroom apartment is $1200 a month! Plus they pay for their own gas and electric as well.
Lets do the math here. A person makes $14 an hour times 40 hours is $560 a week. After taxes, Social Security, health insurance (they don't get it free like the losers do!) it's probably around $475. That comes to $1900 a month and when you soak them for $1200 for rent, they now have $700 to live on the rest of the month. Subtract utilities ($50) gasoline ($100 at least!) car insurance ($60) laundry and cleaning ($20) Medical and Prescriptions ($30) it leaves them with $440 or less than $110 each week. That's with no credit card bills, no car repairs, no car payments, no doctor bills that are not covered by insurance, nothing else. They have to eat, pay all their other bills, and survive on a hundred and ten bucks a week. Folks, three meals a day at Carls or Mickey D's will blow most of that money, and that's junk food! You won't see the people from the apartment complex owners families living on the cheap!
We lived in a condo rental in Carlsbad, California about ten years ago and in the sixteen months we lived there, the rents went from $1200 to $1500 a month; we moved out as they were increasing to $1800 a month, and I understand they are now $2200 per month for the same 2 bedroom unit. That's insanity!
I believe the apartment complex owners are preying on those who cannot afford home ownership, and that it will continue to get worse. They all decry rent control, but I believe it will come. Those who have lost homes are now renting and have no choice but to move into apartments. The number of available, decent apartments is just not that great, and the owners are getting a premium price for the units. It seems to be whatever the traffic will bear.
Same with rental homes that can't be sold, yet are renting for obscene prices. I understand some might be high, as the owners need to make the high mortgage payments. But what about the speculators who buy homes simply to rent? In Harbor Pointe in Carlsbad, homes that originally sold for less than $200K are renting for over $2000 per month. Why? Because many of the homes in what is known as the Village were apparently purchased simply to rent as income properties; the owners are able to rent for that amount to people who can't afford the down payment to purchase a house, where their monthly payment would possibly be less than rent.
The shame is that a good portion of Harbor Pointe is turning into a community of renters with a significant turnover. Not good for the resident owners. Nor for the renters who move in and out trying to find the ideal place to live, moving children from school to school, and losing friends along the way. Were housing more affordable, regardless of apartment or single family homes, maybe people would settle and find roots in a community.
I'm talking about the single income man or woman, or single parent, who works their tail off, full time, and maybe overtime, at a decent job, and tries to live in a decent place. They go to an apartment complex and are told the rent for a one-bedroom apartment is $1200 a month! Plus they pay for their own gas and electric as well.
Lets do the math here. A person makes $14 an hour times 40 hours is $560 a week. After taxes, Social Security, health insurance (they don't get it free like the losers do!) it's probably around $475. That comes to $1900 a month and when you soak them for $1200 for rent, they now have $700 to live on the rest of the month. Subtract utilities ($50) gasoline ($100 at least!) car insurance ($60) laundry and cleaning ($20) Medical and Prescriptions ($30) it leaves them with $440 or less than $110 each week. That's with no credit card bills, no car repairs, no car payments, no doctor bills that are not covered by insurance, nothing else. They have to eat, pay all their other bills, and survive on a hundred and ten bucks a week. Folks, three meals a day at Carls or Mickey D's will blow most of that money, and that's junk food! You won't see the people from the apartment complex owners families living on the cheap!
We lived in a condo rental in Carlsbad, California about ten years ago and in the sixteen months we lived there, the rents went from $1200 to $1500 a month; we moved out as they were increasing to $1800 a month, and I understand they are now $2200 per month for the same 2 bedroom unit. That's insanity!
I believe the apartment complex owners are preying on those who cannot afford home ownership, and that it will continue to get worse. They all decry rent control, but I believe it will come. Those who have lost homes are now renting and have no choice but to move into apartments. The number of available, decent apartments is just not that great, and the owners are getting a premium price for the units. It seems to be whatever the traffic will bear.
Same with rental homes that can't be sold, yet are renting for obscene prices. I understand some might be high, as the owners need to make the high mortgage payments. But what about the speculators who buy homes simply to rent? In Harbor Pointe in Carlsbad, homes that originally sold for less than $200K are renting for over $2000 per month. Why? Because many of the homes in what is known as the Village were apparently purchased simply to rent as income properties; the owners are able to rent for that amount to people who can't afford the down payment to purchase a house, where their monthly payment would possibly be less than rent.
The shame is that a good portion of Harbor Pointe is turning into a community of renters with a significant turnover. Not good for the resident owners. Nor for the renters who move in and out trying to find the ideal place to live, moving children from school to school, and losing friends along the way. Were housing more affordable, regardless of apartment or single family homes, maybe people would settle and find roots in a community.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Your Bank or Credit Union May be Lying to You
Did you roll your retirement account over from your workplace to your favorite bank or credit union to a retirement account? Do you have an IRA or Keough account at your bank or credit union? Is the amount in excess of $250,000? If so, did you know that the amount over $250,000 is not insured by either the FDIC or, in the case of credit unions, the NCUA?
No, it does NOT matter if you have your spouses name on the account as community property or with right of survivorship, nor how many beneficiaries are named on the account. According to the Federal insurers of these institutions, all retirement accounts have one thing in common and that is they have a $250,000 insured limit per person per institution. Period. End of story. You also have a limit of $100,000 per account you might have in the institution, so savings can be insured separately as can be checking, etc, but NOT retirement accounts. However, you can have a retirement account into which you contributed separately, as can your spouse and each will be insured separately up to the $250K amount, providing each is a fully separate account.
So, if you, personally, have three retirement accounts, and each has $150,000 in it, you stand to lose $200,000 if your bank or credit union folds. If you have one account and it has $500,000 in it you stand to lose $250,000 in one fell swoop in the same scenario. Not likely, but given the present economy, who wants to take that chance. My suggestion is to diversify and move money to credit unions or banks where the money will be insured. You might not make as much interest at another bank, but losing a few dollars in interest isn't nearly as bad as losing your lifes' savings!
I'm writing this because I have been misinformed, and I believe downright deceived, by people who are not the brightest bulbs on the tree at the San Diego County Credit Union. As late as yesterday, I was informed that accounts were covered fully and that the number of beneficiaries on the account increased the insurance on the account, so if you have four beneficiaries, you would automatically increase the insurance by $400K plus the amount already available to husband and spouse of $100K each for a total of $600K. HUH? None of that applies to anything, but it sure must have sounded good coming out of the storyteller at SDCCU so she went on to tell me more amazing stories to try and convince me all was fine in credit union land.
When I told her she was wrong and needed to get her facts straight, she finally went to ask a supervisor and returned agreeing reluctantly that I was correct; $250K is the limit. But then went on to tell me even though the money is uninsured and I could potentially lose it, the credit union is doing so well and has never had financial troubles. Wait a minute...this is MY Money and it's uninsured! People at Indymac bank might have heard the same thing and they're sitting without a bunch of their life's savings now!
Just as a side note, this same institution has been telling me for two years that the limit didn't apply to IRA's. It's a shame you have to get on the Internet, and research and print out materials to take to the bank to educate them about their job, to avoid being sacrificed in the event of a meltdown. What the hell happened to professionalism and knowledge in the banking industry where you could get a straight answer? Remember the saying "You can take that to the bank"? or "You can bank on it"? Better not use that one any more.
I am not assuming Chicken Little's position and screaming that the sky is falling. Far from it; I believe our financial system is secure. However, why would anyone want to keep their money in an institution where it is not insured? That's like buying a car and insuring it for half it's value and after the wreck only having the chassis but no engine because the insurance doesn't cover it all. Or buying a house and then insuring it for only part of it's value, like house insurance that doesn't cover the roof; after the loss you get great walls, carpet and furniture but no roof or ceilings.
In my humble opinion, unless you are willing to lose, you take precautionary steps to secure. Seems to work in combat as in finance. The stakes just are different.
No, it does NOT matter if you have your spouses name on the account as community property or with right of survivorship, nor how many beneficiaries are named on the account. According to the Federal insurers of these institutions, all retirement accounts have one thing in common and that is they have a $250,000 insured limit per person per institution. Period. End of story. You also have a limit of $100,000 per account you might have in the institution, so savings can be insured separately as can be checking, etc, but NOT retirement accounts. However, you can have a retirement account into which you contributed separately, as can your spouse and each will be insured separately up to the $250K amount, providing each is a fully separate account.
So, if you, personally, have three retirement accounts, and each has $150,000 in it, you stand to lose $200,000 if your bank or credit union folds. If you have one account and it has $500,000 in it you stand to lose $250,000 in one fell swoop in the same scenario. Not likely, but given the present economy, who wants to take that chance. My suggestion is to diversify and move money to credit unions or banks where the money will be insured. You might not make as much interest at another bank, but losing a few dollars in interest isn't nearly as bad as losing your lifes' savings!
I'm writing this because I have been misinformed, and I believe downright deceived, by people who are not the brightest bulbs on the tree at the San Diego County Credit Union. As late as yesterday, I was informed that accounts were covered fully and that the number of beneficiaries on the account increased the insurance on the account, so if you have four beneficiaries, you would automatically increase the insurance by $400K plus the amount already available to husband and spouse of $100K each for a total of $600K. HUH? None of that applies to anything, but it sure must have sounded good coming out of the storyteller at SDCCU so she went on to tell me more amazing stories to try and convince me all was fine in credit union land.
When I told her she was wrong and needed to get her facts straight, she finally went to ask a supervisor and returned agreeing reluctantly that I was correct; $250K is the limit. But then went on to tell me even though the money is uninsured and I could potentially lose it, the credit union is doing so well and has never had financial troubles. Wait a minute...this is MY Money and it's uninsured! People at Indymac bank might have heard the same thing and they're sitting without a bunch of their life's savings now!
Just as a side note, this same institution has been telling me for two years that the limit didn't apply to IRA's. It's a shame you have to get on the Internet, and research and print out materials to take to the bank to educate them about their job, to avoid being sacrificed in the event of a meltdown. What the hell happened to professionalism and knowledge in the banking industry where you could get a straight answer? Remember the saying "You can take that to the bank"? or "You can bank on it"? Better not use that one any more.
I am not assuming Chicken Little's position and screaming that the sky is falling. Far from it; I believe our financial system is secure. However, why would anyone want to keep their money in an institution where it is not insured? That's like buying a car and insuring it for half it's value and after the wreck only having the chassis but no engine because the insurance doesn't cover it all. Or buying a house and then insuring it for only part of it's value, like house insurance that doesn't cover the roof; after the loss you get great walls, carpet and furniture but no roof or ceilings.
In my humble opinion, unless you are willing to lose, you take precautionary steps to secure. Seems to work in combat as in finance. The stakes just are different.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
North County Times - Unbiased as Long as It's Their Viewpoint
Ever read the San Diego North County Times newspaper letters to the editor? Ever see anything there that's really thought provoking or really stirs the pot against anything the paper seems to be for? No, I didn't think so.
For example, one of the "pet" projects fostered by the NCT for years has been the expansion of Tri-City Medical Center. There is no question an expansion of TCMC is long overdue, perhaps if only to shore up the earthquake solidity of the building, and serve the burgeoning illegal population that overruns the ER daily, but that's not the question. TCMC wants to build the Taj Mahal with taxpayers money, and the taxpayers keep saying no. Yet every time the question arises, NCT jumps on the TCMC bandwagon and appears to quash any letters of severe criticism to the project, while publishing letters praising the services provided by TCMC.
This isn't about the services provided by Tri-City which, for the most part, are very good. In fact, if it were not for the glut of non-paying illegal patients using the ER as their private doctors' office, and clogging the system, the ER care in the evenings would be downright excellent! It isn't about the dedicated doctors, nurses, ER registration staff or environmental services personnel who work to keep the place running. It's about the top heavy administration getting huge salaries, voting themselves even more while crying about the needs of the hospital, and trying to outdo the Joneses in building a showplace, which is supported by the NCT, to the exclusion of comments to the contrary.
I've sent letters to the North County Times outlining problems at TCMC and they go unpublished. Clean, clear, concise letters with facts on how the hospital wastes money, on how patients walk out without paying their bills, as the staff at night is sometimes so overrun they can't get them in the system before a doctor releases them. And, in some cases, patients have been released only to be injured or killed, and the hospital places blame elsewhere for these issues, when they should be placed right square on the shoulders of the hospital administration.
You've seen all the TV advertising and, on yes, the paid advertising in the North County Times of course. Guess why? Rather than face the people of North County in a Proposition on the ballot, like is usually done, Tri-City is sneaking a $589 million dollar bond measure mail ballot into your mailbox surreptitiously in the hope you'll:
For example, one of the "pet" projects fostered by the NCT for years has been the expansion of Tri-City Medical Center. There is no question an expansion of TCMC is long overdue, perhaps if only to shore up the earthquake solidity of the building, and serve the burgeoning illegal population that overruns the ER daily, but that's not the question. TCMC wants to build the Taj Mahal with taxpayers money, and the taxpayers keep saying no. Yet every time the question arises, NCT jumps on the TCMC bandwagon and appears to quash any letters of severe criticism to the project, while publishing letters praising the services provided by TCMC.
This isn't about the services provided by Tri-City which, for the most part, are very good. In fact, if it were not for the glut of non-paying illegal patients using the ER as their private doctors' office, and clogging the system, the ER care in the evenings would be downright excellent! It isn't about the dedicated doctors, nurses, ER registration staff or environmental services personnel who work to keep the place running. It's about the top heavy administration getting huge salaries, voting themselves even more while crying about the needs of the hospital, and trying to outdo the Joneses in building a showplace, which is supported by the NCT, to the exclusion of comments to the contrary.
I've sent letters to the North County Times outlining problems at TCMC and they go unpublished. Clean, clear, concise letters with facts on how the hospital wastes money, on how patients walk out without paying their bills, as the staff at night is sometimes so overrun they can't get them in the system before a doctor releases them. And, in some cases, patients have been released only to be injured or killed, and the hospital places blame elsewhere for these issues, when they should be placed right square on the shoulders of the hospital administration.
You've seen all the TV advertising and, on yes, the paid advertising in the North County Times of course. Guess why? Rather than face the people of North County in a Proposition on the ballot, like is usually done, Tri-City is sneaking a $589 million dollar bond measure mail ballot into your mailbox surreptitiously in the hope you'll:
- a. vote for it because you're tired of hearing about it
- b. toss the vote away and only those in favor will vote for it
- c. vote for it based on all the hype you'll hear over the media
- d. Give Art Gonzalez another big raise and he'll go away along with the bond measure
- e. Dump the bond measure, TCMC sells to a private not-for profit health care consortium and grows as the hospitals in Orange County have with no tax dollars involved.
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