Hi Maurice, The tenth one still works for Pacific Bell Telecom as a systems manager. The nine worked in various flavors of investment banking, private equity, and one in telecom capacity wholesale. The financial types are now looking for opportunities in hedge fund startups, and the telco wholesale buddy is getting his real estate certificate.
I would guess that all had made over USD 200k pre-tax during 1999 and possibly 2000. Now, the wives who were not working are being put back into the job market.
The buddy who sold his house for USD 1.2 mm knows that the new buyer put down USD 300k as downpayment and borrowed the rest; the husband is an independent software programmer, and wife an executive at a department store chain. We figured the new buyers must make USD 200k pretax in order to keep food on table, taxes remitted, cars fueled, and mortgage/property tax paid. If either one loses his/her income, then the house must be "disgorged" (BTW, that seems to be a newly popular term in the media).
Again, as a reminder, we are not yet officially in a recession, and the twin bubbles have not been popped.
Some fellow threaders (they seem to have mostly disappeared for now, until the rally, no doubt) had posted about jobs being created. Yes, jobs are being created by government, burger flipping joints, and possibly taxi companies. Alas, not jobs that maintain USD 1.2 mm house prices.
The mortgage and derivatives industry(s) have managed to spread the financial risk far and wide, as the (term taken from www.dailyreckoning.com ) 'benighted' Greensputin, but also thick, making sure when the stuff goes toxic, it does so with unprecedented cleansing affects.
Chugs, Jay |
