Crazy economy

The economy is going crazy right now, with stock prices plummeting on healthy companies, as quickly as unhealthy ones.

In a lot of ways, the crazy world of subprime mortgages, and the subsequent drop in house prices and then the destruction of the assets associated with the subprime homes has evidently caused the entire economy to fall down. It's puzzling on a number of fronts, because I and everyone I care to ask, got normal, safe loans. What portion of loans out there are truly in the 'at risk' category, and where does my normal, fixed rate, loan fit in?

I can say this: my fixed rate loan was sold by one of the 'failing' companies, and purchased by some small company, hence causing that 'failing' company to become weaker, in my opinion. I'm thinking they, and other companies on the brink of failure, are probably doing this to survive from day-to-day, selling off their best loans but unable to shed the most toxic of their assets.

Seems to me that a lot of people got rich as the housing boom took place, and now another set of people are getting rich off the housing bust. Nice to see that the irrational behavior of the marketplace is transferring a ton of wealth from company to company. Meanwhile, grocery costs seem to have climbed a bit (anecdote: apples were 1.25 per pound and are now 2.25 per pound, ouch).

The question is, can the common person benefit at all from this crazy economy? Typically, the stock market is only available to those who have a certain minimum amount of money to invest, to overcome the cost per transaction of stock purchases. I refer you to zecco.com, where you can buy stocks without any fees (except the penny or 2 charged by the SEC). This could be a way to buy stock in amazingly great companies for 1% of what they used to cost. Example, Fannie Mae, a company with lots of great loans and great assets, has gone from 40 dollars/share to 60 cents. Buy 100 shares for 60 bucks, and maybe in 10 years they could be worth 10 dollars a share, and you can sell them for 1000 bucks. That is totally possible and, involves such a tiny amount of money that anyone above the age of 16 could do it. Why not eh? at that cost, their entire portfolio of assets could drop a ton, and still you stand a good chance of making a good amount of money. There are still assets behind these 'toxic' loans, and unless $200,000 houses start selling for $4,000 , Fannie mae will eventually turn around. If that actually happened, most of us will be more worried about surviving on rats and whatnot than whatever money we put into our portfolios.

promiscuity causes less aids spread:

I read this interesting article on disease control: Simulation shows promiscuity prevents aids spread
I'll assume you will read it, and not quote it here. What I think is interesting is that, with only a small amount of promiscuity, you are virtually guaranteed to eventually contract a sexually communicable disease. So, if I am loyal to my partner for 20 years, and then pass a beautiful person on the street, one that just can't be resisted (and fit into the stereotype that is the weak-willed male), and end up having sex, chances are that I'm not her "first lover", and also, chances are that, she's a disease-ridden germ factory, spewing death in all directions. That puts things in perspective.

While I was reading the article, they mentioned that, with nightly promiscuous activity, 200 days , in a population of 400, would cause the entire promiscuous world to be infected. Scary freakin' simulator. They mentioned the simulator's ignorance of the fact that most sexual behavior is more strait-laced than random partners every night. Most lovers are semi-loyal to each other, even in a promiscuous relationship. But the problem is the interconnections with each other. I think the 200 days represent a speeded-up simulation, where it would be better to say that 200 couplings where a good percentage of people are not monogamous will virtually guarantee contraction of Aids. I think most of us are safe from this fate regardless of our status. Our greatest fear would be to live long enough to couple with 200 non-monogamous people (repeats would count toward this total, I believe). Since I don't have a very good imagination, I think this would take 1,000 years to manage for all but the most libido-driven person.

I have always found this topic fascinating, because AIDS is REALLY hard to get. You have to find someone with aids who is also willing to 'rub nubbins' with you, and even that isn't always enough. You both have to also be unwilling to take basic contraceptive practices (make sure the rubber DOES meet the road). It's interesting, and scary, that for promiscuous members of society, the only thing that will save them from aids is that old age will get them first. And any monogamous partner of a promiscuous person is also screwed (no pun intended), and didn't even get to have the 'fun' of barhopping and whatnot.

Saturday

Getting over being sick, hanging out with the kids and listening to npr. The story is about a guy that has made lists of everything he has done since 1955. Phone calls etc.

Anyway, it reminded me that I haven't written anything recently. So there you go.