November is here and Thanksgiving is upon us again. At last! A time to
take pause, reflect and
give thanks for
the wonderful bounties and blessings bestowed upon our lives. This is a day to
reunite with family, friends and saturated fat, to usher in the holiday season
and the culmination of another year, now if only we could stay awake long
enough to enjoy it.
Have you ever noticed after a big meal, (particularly one that
prominently features turkey) that you feel somewhat drowsy afterwards? Not just
a contented kind of warm sleepiness that you get after, say, a cup of cocoa by
the fire on a cold winter's eve, but an all out, "someone slipped me a
'Mickey'," drugged sort of delirium that even espresso or Cuban coffee
couldn't put a dent in?
For years I thought this phenomenon was just a by-product of the usual
Thanksgiving dinner gluttony, but a while back I read an article about a
chemical known as L-Tryptophan found naturally occurring in turkey. As I read
this I thought to myself, Ah-ha! This explains the bloated carcasses of family
and friends that lay moaning on the family room floor after the Thanksgiving
feast desperately trying to lift their heads in a feeble attempt to catch the
football festivities on television or emit a final, gaseous query as to the
fate of that last piece of pumpkin pie they'd had their eye on just before
slipping into catatonia.
That same Tryptophan theory could also explain the strange lethargic funk
I sometimes sink into after a turkey sandwich at lunchtime. Makes sense,
doesn't it?
Maybe this will someday lead a surgeon general to try forcing the poultry
industry to place a warning label on turkey products, cautioning us to not to
operate motor vehicles or heavy machinery after partaking in a turkey dinner?
And, who know? Maybe some progressive poultry purveyors will someday
develop Tryptophan-Free turkeys. Large, plump birds that promise, "Real
Thanksgiving Satisfaction without drowsiness! "
Just imagine, being able to stay conscious through the entire airing of
"Miracle on 34th Street" and other Thanksgiving traditions for the
first time in years! Imagine seeing every football game in its entirety, scores
of saccharine, seasonal movie "Classics", the latest beer and chip
commercials, the countdown to holiday savings and Santa's arrival at the mall
near you, 4 hours of coverage of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade or the 10th
annual presentation of slides from Aunt Eleanor and Uncle Elmo's trip to
Düsseldorf. Then again, maybe this
chemically induced unconsciousness is a Thanksgiving blessing and nature's
benevolent holiday gift to us all..............
Mortgage Bankers Optimistic But Wary
WASHINGTON – Oct. 29,
2012 – Economists from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) sounded an
optimistic note at a press conference last week during the organization’s
Conference & Expo in Chicago.
They predict that
unemployment will go down, home purchase loan originations will go up, and
mortgage rates will remain low in 2013. Everything points to a continued
housing recovery – but they also cautioned that major economic challenges loom,
and they could bring about a reversal, particularly in interest rates. “The
most immediate threat is the fiscal cliff,” said Jay Brinkmann, the MBA’s chief
economist and senior vice president of research and education, referring to the
deep cuts in taxes and government program spending that will take place at the
end of this year if some sort of financial compromise isn’t reached by
legislators on both sides of the aisle.
The Congressional
Budget Office estimates that U.S. gross domestic product will fall four
percentage points in 2013 if an agreement isn’t forthcoming, which would make
it a recessionary year. Mike Fratantoni, vice president of single-family
research and policy development for the MBA, predicted there would be some sort
of resolution. “It may not be clean, and it may not be timely,” he added. Any
major delays would likely lead to a spike in interest rates and, consequently,
declines in home sales.
Over the long haul,
interest rates will likely remain below historical lows because of the flight
of global capital to the U.S. caused by the continuing European debt crisis and
the Fed’s rollout of another round of quantitative easing (often referred to as
QE3). This Fed initiative – which will probably last at least a year and
possibly as long as two – will involve the central bank purchasing tens of
billions of dollars in mortgage-backed securities each month. “(The Fed’s
quantitative easing) wasn’t surprising,” Fratantoni said. “The aggressiveness,
the open-ended nature of it, and extreme focus on the mortgage market was a
surprise.” However, if the Fed determines that they’re crowding liquidity out
of the market with QE3, they may shift to purchasing longer-term securities
such as Treasuries, Brinkmann added.
Source: Brian
Summerfield, REALTOR® Magazine
© 2012 Florida
Realtors®Happy Thanksgiving!
CENTURY 21 BIRCHWOOD REALTY, INC.
4040 Del Prado Boulevard, Cape Coral, FL 33904
Ph. 239.851.6235 | Fx. 239-542-0993
kathycardet@gmail.com | http://kathycardet.listingbook.com
Ph. 239.851.6235 | Fx. 239-542-0993
kathycardet@gmail.com | http://kathycardet.listingbook.com
If you or someone you know may be looking for real estate of exceptional quality, please contact me right away;
- I would be more than happy to help!
