John T. Reed’s news blog
Get multiple bids and go with the lowest qualified bidder. Don’t be distracted by smiles, etc.
Posted by John Reed on
We got AC work done today. One estimate was $17,767. The other was $9,142. This was to replace the heating and air-conditioning for the first floor of our two-story home. The second-floor systems were replaced about seven years ago. The third company we asked for an estimate was the one who replaced the second floor HVAC seven years ago. They charged us over $12,000 then, so it is not likely that they would would have made a competitive bid this time. They promised to give us an estimate this time, but did not. This got us a 3-ton, 14 SEER condenser and...
WSJ say real estate not aways in inflation hedge. Actually it pretty much is.
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‘Real Estate Isn’t Always a[n inflation] Shelter’ is the headline in a WSJ article from yesterday. Excuse me. Real estate is not a dollar-denominated asset. ALL assets that are NOT dollar-denominated ARE inflation hedges. What is the author Carol Ryan talking about? When inflation accelerates, as in WW II and the 1970s, it is common for the federal government to enact price controls including rent controls. NYC still has rent control left over from WW II. But Ryan manages never to mention rent control in an article about inflation other than mentioning that already existing German “government regulations cap” residential...
H&D photo
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I am not impressed with Argentine anti-inflation strategies.
Posted by John Reed on
Wall Street Journal today has an article about Argentines coping with inflation by hoarding. Yeah. My hyperinflation book has a chapter titled “Advance purchase and sale.” It is about stocking up on necessities now before the prices get higher. Obvious hedge against inflation. I also say to get rid of all the stuff you may try to sell via Craiglist and eBay now rather than when everyone in America is doing that. . I do NOT have a freezer. Hoarding is trickier than that. I have lots of UHT milk, Mormon dry pack #10 cans of food, and freeze-dried #10...
You want to get into Harvard college as a white person? Become a recruited athlete; otherwise, try State.
Posted by John Reed on
An article in today's Wall Street Journal tells of a top high school senior who got rejected by ten prestigious colleges. Apparently, it is even harder to get into those schools than it was in previous absurdly difficult years. The article reveals what she and her parents did wrong. She is white. That was unfixable absent a Rachel Dolezal false claim to "identify" as black. To get admitted to Harvard as a white, she needed to be a recruited athlete. My oldest son got into Ivy League Columbia, Dartmouth, and Yale as a recruited football player. He graduated from Columbia...