The Magnificent Goldberg

Adjustable rate mortgages are the norm over here. You win when they come down; you lose when they go up. But that's what's SUPPOSED to happen. The point of the Bank of England (or the Fed) controlling interest rates is to put money in or take money out of the economy so as to control inflation. Schemes to get around this make inflation more difficult to control because they don't have the impact on people's spending that they ought to. Edit: Just to make things clear, I'm saying that Greenspan was right, but he gave the wrong reason. Maybe he knew it was the only reason that could be sold at the time. MG

Freee! Freeee! Freeeee!

Damn good job it was free. MG

Why? I mean, I'm sure you must get something out of that or you wouldn't do it - but what? MG I think the convenience of the digital format invites the listener to flip around alot more at will. I know I tend to listen to LPs a little differently than I do CDs, iTunes, etc. Seems kind of odd to me, not that I'm criticising. I don't have this technology. Maybe if I did I'd change my listening habits, too. MG

It's going to be tomorrow anyway, so we can relax. Well - tomorrow for me anyway. MG

I didn't know that. I knew he wrote "Where were you (on our wedding day)", because I have that single. What other of Price's hits did he write? MG

Blimey! Are you sure? MG

That looks like a DVD. If so, it may not play on US machines without a contraption. If you have a contraption, please raise your left hand, or whatever. MG

Byyyeeee! MG

Why? I mean, I'm sure you must get something out of that or you wouldn't do it - but what? MG

I guess over there you don't have anything like a financial services ombudsman. MG

Oh well, I didn't come on the board at all yesterday... MG

Which gets you what? A chance to be one of today's top 10 posters. The top 10 poster may even be you! Offer is limited, eligible only need to apply. Been in the top 10, but have never been #1. (And never will be, even if I keep going back and forth with you on this topic.) But it will never happen if you never try! Shit, it's me! MG

That looks very interesting, Dan. If we'd had such a thing over here, I could have paid my mortgage off in about 5 years instead of 15. But you still need great discipline over your spending. That kind of loan can kill you if you habitually spend more than you earn and hit the credit card. That goes right back to what Porcy was saying about people's propensity to borrow nowadays. There is REALLY no way out if you do that because no one really has the equity they think they have. MG

Thanks Paul. I didn't know you could do that. MG

599,391 at present - 609 short. Maybe a bunch of posts will push us over the top. 60 minutes later, we're at 599,452. 60 posts in 60 minutes! 548 to go. At this pace, we should hit 600,000 at 7:16 pm, CST. How can you tell what the number is???????? OOoooo, I'm getting too excited MG

MG

i went through similar about 20 years ago and things settled down, after i switched to a local mortgage company. i am confident they will for you, too. Well, but looking at what Jim said a few posts back, local might only mean local for a short period of time; then it's back to the same routine. My heart bleeds for you, Jim. MG

Hah, yes - once upon a time you could tell from the catalogue number series what something was part of. And number series tended to BE series (even if a few numbers were missing). Blue Note/Capitol/EMI numbers almost all seem to be random. MG

Just as the Fantasy "Legends of Acid Jazz" series was simply a new name for the series of Soul Jazz twofers that Fantasy had been putting out since the year dot; and the series continued after the name wore out its welcome (and the execrable sleeve design, too). MG

YOU hate mortgage companies! Hah! When we finished paying the morgtage on our old flat, we got a letter from the building society saying that it had all been paid off and that they'd set fire to our effin' deeds! OK - they'd had a fire in the supposedly secure store just a few weeks before. But they wanted to charge me 75 quid for authorised copies and so on. An irate letter changed their mind, I'm glad to say. MG

I haven't got it, Andy - I'm still on vinyl for that one. MG

How do you find out? MG

Because you played (or wore) out the vinyl grooves in the course of time or because the vinyl pressing and/or mastering quality was oh so crappy in the first place? Neither; because it has generally been so difficult to buy Soul Jazz in Britain, and up to the early '90s I was pretty poor, that I bought the cheapest second hand LPs no matter what their condition and put up with what they sounded like. MG

Missed it! But happy birthday for yesterday, anyway! MG