STTTTLTYT

STTTTLTYT
Sometimes These Things Take Longer Than You Think

We are living in a slow motion train wreck, with an occasional flash and bang.

Total credit just reached a peak in Summer 2009, although you would have thought that maybe that maximum credit level would have been in 2006 or so. 

"They" will keep trying to juice the market, get people to buy/consume, get people to take on debt, for as long as possible, since the "emporer has no clothes" will get downright ugly when this Ponzi scheme is shown in broad daylight for what it is.   And there will be "news" to account for the "turndown", to explain it. 

HELOC's are still over $1T, at 1.05T, down from 1.13T at their peak in 2007

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Anything the Government tries to run is done poorly.  I think everyone knows this, am I wrong?  Having the Gov dip more strongly into Health Care and our bank accounts, will be a debacle.   I am flabbergasted that any Government official thinks that this would even be close to the "right time" to add this burden on to the people and the economy.  Maybe sign this petition.

http://www.joinpatientsfirst.com/landing/?cdtrack_creative=d4c01f0b-bbb5-455d-9a45-d58e14dd874a&cdtrack_source=6766ecf9-5d7e-4988-ba24-e120e6fe0873
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And just an interesting observation, I am sure there are many reasons people sell houses, like needing the money, and Cher is selling her pad in Kona, Big Island.

In 1988, Kona was a smallish fishing town where you could go stay at Uncle Billy's Hotel for around $60.  You would probably go fishing (best Marlin fishing in the world), hiking, or maybe Scuba diving.  There were a few bars but the nightlife was weak at best.

Kona exploded, it became the hippest of the hip places to go build real mansions and McMansions.  I had one client who wanted energy efficiency for a "house" with a $16,000 per month electric bill.  It is a sign of the times.

http://www.hawaiiluxuryauction.com/Home.html
And this is sad....Pineapple is dead in Hawaii, the last is gone.  We cannot "afford" to grow our own crops.  Probably the Mandatory Employer Provided Health Care that Hawaii ALREADY has, contributes to shipping those agricultural jobs to PI.  Actually I did the calc, and knowing health care costs about a minimum of $250 per employee (1 person covered, other family members add to this cost) per month, I figure this pineapple company paid direct costs of around $6M since 2002, in which they state losses of $115M since 2002.  

And all that land can now be used for "Development".  Yeah right. 



http://apnews.excite.com/article/20091224/D9CPTKNG2.html

On a happy note--another client is converting a 16 acre lot into Aquatonics which is a symbiotic mesh of Fish, Water, and Vegetables.  Of course there are water pumping, aeration, and other power demands that will be met with a large PV system.  The cost benefits of doing PV are amazing, with businesses reaping even greater benefits than residential. 

A $33,850 System ends up costing $1,697 to the user.   And that is ignoring any benefits that depreciation could have in reducing your business tax liability to the State.  State of Hawaii treats depreciation somewhat different than the Federal in some ways that I don't fully understand, but for the most part, the Fed Schedule C (Business Income or Loss) is reduced by the 4562 Depreciation and Section 179 Depreciation, and then the Fed Schedule C flows into the State Income Statement.

So if Hawaii effective blended tax rate is 8%, then 8% times $27,477 depreciation amount would be $2200.   So this system is effectively free, or even a negative cost to small businesses.  It looks like small businesses can have 30 years of energy independence for "free". 

And this PV system will produce $155,500 worth of electricity over 30 years, based on a 6% annual inflation rate.  Is this a no-brainer or what?

The only trick is having the wherewith-all of that $33,850 to start with.

And then the next trick is going from 16 acres of sustainable Aquatonics to 16,000 acres.  Now that would be a real difference in our ability to be sustainable.  Did you ever stop to think what the opposite of being sustainable is?