Re: Accuracy

1

What they do still makes more sense to me than what they pay for housing.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06-17-16 5:26 PM
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2

Examples where it was unclear? Skimming, I saw finance, advertising/marketing, accounting, recruiting...


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 06-17-16 5:42 PM
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3

Boy does this make me feel better about the house I'm making an offer on tomorrow, even though my job is admittedly a tiny bit weird.


Posted by: Thorn | Link to this comment | 06-17-16 6:10 PM
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4

If it's under a million, you better move quickly.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06-17-16 6:11 PM
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I guess since my actual job title is voi/ce/wri/ter I may meet ogged's standards, though I only ever say I'm a transcriptionist because I'm not living in a cyberpunk novel where I need a job title like that.


Posted by: Thorn | Link to this comment | 06-17-16 7:22 PM
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6

I can't care enough about househunting in Westchester county to read far enough to wonder what people do.


Posted by: fake accent | Link to this comment | 06-17-16 7:53 PM
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7

To me, Westchester County will always be primarily known for the home of the X-Men.


Posted by: Cyrus | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 4:55 AM
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8

Obviously, the Patrick Stewart-telepathic guy was using his power to trade real estate for profit.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 5:03 AM
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9

The problematic one is the first- wtf is creating viral video campaigns? Oh, right, marketing which is what all the others are along with accounting.
Having grown up in this area, my wife and I often wondered what all the not so bright but highly privileged progeny of people like this would do for careers. Marketing is almost always the answer, just like their parents. It's the ciiiiiiircle of liiiiiiiife.


Posted by: SP | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 5:46 AM
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10

|?

A thought in connection to the topic

Mark Metzler's Lever of Empire is an absolutely superb book about Japanese Imperial monetary policy, and can teach a lot about money, banking, financial imperialism, austerity vs Keynesian economics. More useful than Tooze. One thing I noticed early but has become more interesting is how much Metzler leaves out of his narrative.

America's announcement in January 1920 that it was pulling its troops out of Siberia left Japan's intervention with little diplomatic cover. On March 12 Russian partisans massacred some three hundred Japanese civilians in Nikolayevsk in the northern Maritime Province, and the military intervention that had been intended to carve out a new sphere of influence turned into a bloody fiasco.

Nikolayevsk Incident pdf scroll down, the Wiki entry essentially lifts this word-for-word, while leaving out some balancing information

"The demands of earthquake reconstruction temporarily interrupted the retrenchment process after September 1923"

Which is all he says about the 1923 Kanto earthquake.

I looked the first up, but knew enough about the 2nd.

Now some might says that Metzler assumes his reader has a certain base knowledge of Japanese history, but I don't necessarily believe that is the case.

By 2016, with what is available on the Internet and our electronic modes of reading, we should have reached a point where a writer can save space and time by saying

"Not essential to my point. If you want to know, go look it up. Imagine embedded links. If you are reading a book like this, you should be able to take care of yourself."

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Posted by: bob mcmanus | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 5:57 AM
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||

More off topic, but another typical paragraph from Metzler.

ca 1920:

Later, as chief economist at Morgan and Company, Leffingwell would advise the Japanese government on its own return to the gold standard. For his part, having moved decisively to induce "liquidation" in the United States, FRBNY governor Benjamin Strong left for a round-the-world vacation. He began his trip with a three-month stay in Japan, where he became friends with Inoue Junnosuke* and brought him into the international central banking fraternity led by the Bank of England's Montagu Norman and himself. This personal connection followed rather than preceded the de facto coordination of Japanese with British and American interest rate hikes, but it was an important further step in establishing the policy framework of the following decade.

*head of Bank of Japan at the time, and at top of finance for twenty+ years, including revolving door moves to Finance Ministry.

I don't know how much of this Tooze does, but in general I think we pay too much attention to diplomats, gov't officials, and military officers in history and current affairs, and not enough to the financiers and business leaders who have the former's ears and keep their wallets filled. Ex:Ukraine.

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Posted by: bob mcmanus | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 6:10 AM
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12

Give bob front-page posting privileges, pls.


Posted by: real ffeJ annaH | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 6:22 AM
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13

The link in 10 is also good if you are into elephant seal physiology.


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 6:39 AM
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14

13 And who isn't?


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 6:50 AM
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15

12: He could try Crooked Timber.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 7:16 AM
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16

Wordpress blogs are free.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 7:29 AM
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17

But a Wordpress blog doesn't come with its own set of libertarian commenters.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 7:44 AM
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18

Surely if there's a demand for preexisting libertarian commenters you could pay extra for that option because free market.


Posted by: SP | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 7:46 AM
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19

Maybe Tumblr, but I don't think they allow you to use many words.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 8:08 AM
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20

Endorse 10.1. It's a great companion read to Deluge and makes sense of a lot if the finance stuff that Tooze doesn't.


Posted by: Mossy Character | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 8:54 AM
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21

the Times doesn't have to work very hard to make these people seem ridiculous

Because they want a nice house with a reasonable commute? Is this not cool or something?


Posted by: gswift | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 9:51 AM
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22

They got into a bidding war. "It was awful."


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 10:08 AM
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23

The first guy is from Slovakia. If you're an ambitious guy in Slovakia, you probably end up in NYC. And if you make it all the way to NYC, you can afford a $1M home. The same is true of Vancouver and Toronto and London and SF. You're not competing against locals, you're bidding against people from all over the world.


Posted by: bjk | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 10:43 AM
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24

They're also shitty at bidding wars.


Posted by: SP | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 10:56 AM
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25

I love that in the summer (where there is no need to mess with school drop-off and when there are no college kids clogging up the bus), I can wake up at 7:30 and be at my desk by 8:30 after getting a bagel. All for free and with a house that cost less than $1 million.

It could be even faster, but I still maintain the habit of showering in the morning. I keep wondering why I bother since nobody I work with is even in the same state and the people who work near me have no influence over my professional career and, as I am reminded by annual training, aren't supposed to have sex with me.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 10:58 AM
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Mobyismo: If I can't have sex with someone, and they can't get me fired, they're no one.


Posted by: SP | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 11:07 AM
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27

15 minutes of sleep isn't nothing.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 11:09 AM
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Speaking of Tooze, I sent in my summary early yesterday morning. Not sure when it will be posted since I haven't seen heebie comment in a couple of days, so I'm assuming she's busy with other things.


Posted by: fake accent | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 11:10 AM
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Yeah, I couldn't tell why they were ridiculous either. Though my eyebrows did go up at the family that's downsizing to a two acre lot.

I do want to know their finances and incomes but that's another article. I sometimes think this kind of article is written by real estate agents.


Posted by: Zb | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 11:15 AM
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They got into a bidding war. "It was awful."

Not getting cancer awful but it's not fun to be buying a house in a market where everything is getting bid up from the listing price.

Speaking of which, you fleeing that war zone of a city yet? 300+ murders and 1700+ shootings to date.


Posted by: gswift | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 11:30 AM
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31

Aren't there other suburbs of New York that aren't Westchester? Ones that are quite a bit cheaper, even with similar commutes and yards and stuff?


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 11:34 AM
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32

I've spent almost no time in New York and only been in Connecticut for as long as it took to eat brunch, so I may not know what I'm talking about. But isn't the point of buying a house in Westchester to show that you can buy a house in Westchester and the pricing is in large part dependent on that?


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 11:36 AM
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That's mostly the reason because you're not moving to Westchester for your kids. Growing up there sucks. You're moving there so that you can say that you're moving there for your kids.


Posted by: SP | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 11:49 AM
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34

That's mostly the reason because you're not moving to Westchester for your kids. Growing up there sucks. You're moving there so that you can say that you're moving there for your kids.


Posted by: SP | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 11:49 AM
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35

Nobody said white privilege was going to be easy.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 11:57 AM
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36

Sort of on topic, this is some first class trolling.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 12:43 PM
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37

There's different parts of Westchester, of course. Some slightly less ritzy than the bits under discussion.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 1:06 PM
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38

We use every part of the Westchester.


Posted by: Opinionated Yuppie | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 1:10 PM
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We use every part of the Westchester.
Nose to tail. Just like the human centipede.


Posted by: Turgid Jacobian | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 1:18 PM
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40

IME (mostly college) of assholes from UMC New York suburbs, Westchester seemed like the best of a bunch of bad options. Better than NJ, Long Island, or Connecticut, all bad in their own ways. One reason why I think NYers are so into living in the city is that the NY suburbs blow ass.


Posted by: R Tigre | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 1:26 PM
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41

1 million US buys shit all in London. Our friends who live in a small Victorian terrace one street up from us paid that for a fixer-upper. And we are in zone 4. Our 2 bed flat, which is fine, but tiny by US standards would be 850K US.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 1:35 PM
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For so much less than that, I have a three bedroom, semi-detached house with a garage and partially secluded patio. On the downside, it's three blocks straight up the hill from the bus stop and on Sunday mornings, the patio sometimes smells like urine.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 1:44 PM
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43

I have a friend who lives here and commutes week on week off to DC. And likes it.


Posted by: CharleyCarp | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 1:49 PM
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44

If your pay was high enough to cover those costs, that would be a very nice idea. D.C. has lots of jobs but every time I've been there, it seems like a miserable place to live.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 1:56 PM
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45

You know, I liked it better than I thought I would. And we had a bidding war when we sold in 09.


Posted by: CharleyCarp | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 1:58 PM
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46

We are out in the suburbs of DC, and it is okay. But the summer is miserable, mostly.


Posted by: Turgid Jacobian | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 2:03 PM
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47

We are out in the suburbs of DC, and it is okay. But the summer is miserable, mostly.


Posted by: Turgid Jacobian | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 2:03 PM
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48

I could see it being fine if you never, ever had to drive and if you could leave all August every August. But I couldn't figure out how to make either of those guaranteed.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 2:04 PM
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I know someone who's been trying to buy a house for almost a year, in one of the suburbs featured in the article. (Where I also live, so I guess I know what these people do...).


Posted by: Just Plain Jane | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 2:04 PM
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I could see it being fine if you never, ever had to drive and if you could leave all August every August. But I couldn't figure out how to make either of those guaranteed.

Not owning a car would help with the first.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 2:05 PM
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We have one car, and I don't use it to commute. Thank god. And August and July are the worst. I go to the deep south periodically for work and I can't barely understand how Summer can be worse than here, but it still is.


Posted by: Turgid Jacobian | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 2:08 PM
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52

It's pretty nice outside here today now that the sun isn't on full.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 2:10 PM
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53

I might grab a cooler, the shotgun, and a book so that I can lie in wait on the patio to stop whoever keeps pissing off the side of it.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 2:14 PM
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54

It's really hot here. I'm planting and weeding and taking lots of breaks. Weird to be working on a garden for a house I'll be leaving, but good. Not as weird as making an offer on the house I want by phone from the garden center, though. And no pee!


Posted by: Thorn | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 2:20 PM
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I might grab a cooler, the shotgun, and a book so that I can lie in wait on the patio

The choice of book is critical for completing the image this conjures up.


Posted by: AcademicLurker | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 2:26 PM
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When we bought our cabin we got in a bidding war with a lady from New York. Jacked up the price on us by $13 grand. But I think "we'll wave the inspection" was our clincher move.


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 2:28 PM
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I might grab a cooler, the shotgun, and a book so that I can lie in wait on the patio to stop whoever keeps pissing off the side of it.

I'm picturing a scene from Fight Club.


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 2:29 PM
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58

I'm not done with Deluge yet. I'm only at the Washington Naval Conference.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 2:51 PM
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59

I like living in DC, FWIW. A mile from NoMa metro for those in the know, in a three-bedroom rowhouse that wasn't exorbitant when we bought it. I'm a gentrifier. Sorry. As I've mentioned, I like not owning a car. I need to figure out how to bike at least one way from my new job, though (oh, by the way), because all the bus routes suck during rush hour.


Posted by: Cyrus | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 5:42 PM
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60

Congrats on the job!


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 5:45 PM
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61

Congratulations on the job and the heat tolerance.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 6:13 PM
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62

Now that the thread is dead, let me (sorta) explain: I'm a developer for a biggish company and obviously I can describe my job in detail. But what am I doing? I'm an infinitesimally small part of a machine that moves money around. A little from this person, a lot from that person, all being skimmed a bit here, a lot there, and so on. Does any of the detail really matter? Not really. I'm several removes from the money, and I deal in code. That's all you really need to know. What do I do? Not a fucking thing. And that's true of a lot (most) of the jobs that people who buy in Westchester or wherever do. They're part of the money-moving machine. Why do people like this have nicer stuff? Because they're slightly closer to the money spigot. What do they do? Not a fucking thing.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 8:10 PM
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63

That's a good start at the holiday newsletter.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 8:22 PM
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64

Its true. The two major factors affecting one's salary are the size of the money spigot and one's proximity to it.


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 8:23 PM
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I think I understand 62, though the level of abstraction makes it confusing, but I'm still not sure why ogged cares so much about this.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 8:26 PM
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66

Cyrus, new job, yay! Also happy father's day from Selah, who mentioned again this week what a good daddy Baby Atossa has!

62 is sort of familiar. I'm pretty far from the spigot, which is fine by me, but the cogginess can be a bit of a mindfuck at times.


Posted by: Thorn | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 9:02 PM
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67

NoMa

Newseum of Modern Art?

Also, congrats on the job!


Posted by: fake accent | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 9:13 PM
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68

No-See-Um of Modern Art.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 9:15 PM
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Part of the newfangled trend of invisible art galleries.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 06-18-16 9:19 PM
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NoMa metro

Children allowed to ride this line without their parents.

Congrats on the job.


Posted by: chris y | Link to this comment | 06-19-16 4:38 AM
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A mile from Noma . . . is that Petworth?


Posted by: bjk | Link to this comment | 06-19-16 10:02 AM
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What do I do? Not a fucking thing. And that's true of a lot (most) of the jobs that people who buy in Westchester or wherever do. They're part of the money-moving machine. Why do people like this have nicer stuff? Because they're slightly closer to the money spigot. What do they do? Not a fucking thing.

I was initially puzzled by your post, but yeah, okay, I get it now, and of course you're absolutely right.

The thing is, how many of us do anything nowadays, now that we no longer have to produce: a). our own food; and b). our own workforce and old age security (i.e., a large family to help work the farm, and then to look after the parents in their old age)?


Posted by: Just Plain Jane | Link to this comment | 06-19-16 3:26 PM
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71: closer to NoMa than Petworth is, but also in the wrong direction.

Re: the name, it's short for "north of Massachusetts Avenue."

66: thanks.

Re: the job, it's too early to say what I think of it, but it's more money and if nothing else change is good right?


Posted by: Cyrus | Link to this comment | 06-19-16 7:00 PM
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