EARTHQUAKE!!!

Wahoo!!! It's been awhile since we've registered a noteworthy earthquake in So-Cal, and today we most definitely got one! Right around 11:45am, a 5.8 magnitude temblor struck in Chino Hills, 29 miles east-southeast of downtown LA.



Of course, I didn't really feel the quake, or at least didn't know what it was. I happened to be walking on the sidewalk after grabbing a drink at the Mobil gas station at the corner of Calabasas Rd. and Parkway Calabasas, cruising by the newsstands when they started shaking. As I looked up, a large tractor with an overhead shovel-scoop was scooting down the other side of the road. I was impressed with the effect that tractor had on the newsstands....until I got back into the office to everyone clammored around the TV to check the news.



Now, this 5.8 fun treat was nothing even close to the Northridge Earthquake in 1994, but it's been about that long since anything over 5.5 has been felit in LA, so naturally I got a little excited. That's right, true native Southern Californians actually get excited for earthquakes. Why? Because what are you going to do about them? You can't evacuate in advance like during a hurricane or tornado, or fire, and there really isn't anything that rushing around in a panic is going to accomplish, so why not enjoy the crazed natural occurance as it happens, right? I mean, obviously, finding a doorway to get underneath isn't a bad idea, but 'surfing' the ground over to the doorway definitely lightens the mood a bit!



Best part of this earthquake (which will get it off of headlines by the end of the day tomorrow) is that there is no reported damage from it. So, I hope everyone enjoyed the free E-Ticket today and remember, the fun only ends when buildings start looking like this one......

You're kidding....

Remember in 2000, when the Southwest Flight from Vegas to Burbank ran through the runway and came within about a hundred feet of the gas station? Oh yeah, check out the price board....

Up-Down.....check it out!

I've recently stumbled upon a financial social networking site centered around individual investing and various investment strategies. The site sets you up with a virtual $1MM portfolio, and actually pays you if you outperform the S&P 500 over a given month period. Sadly, I got caught up in the whole transaction process of it all and became over enamored with taking short positions, so the S&P kicked my butt in June. July has been a different story so far, however. Check it out, search for me, and add me! You can also post and read various analyses on every stock and ETF out there. Happy fake-trading!

Going, going, Gone!

Just wanted to pause for a moment of silence for Countrywide Financial Corporation, my former employer, which was assumed last week by Bank of America, another former employer of mine. I'll be damned if they come knockin' at SBBT's door, too! I left for a reason, so the giant that is B of A had better not follow me to the greener pastures I've found!

Let's Talk Finance

So, 2008 has been a crazy year so far, hasn't it? And it's only half over! The biggest theme of the year so far....finances, and how messed up all of ours are with this, the worst recession (yes I, Chris Bucka, am officially declaring this a recession) since the Great Depression. I almost laugh when I hear the over-optimistic economic analysts saying we've hit bottom- no, we haven't!

The United States' glory days were in the 50's and 60's, when the generation running the country had grown up during the Great Depression and helped build a better country because of it. So, while politicians and economists are making their best attempts to spin the sunny-side up, let's call this what it is, an introspective period where the American citizen must critically look into how he or she manages their finances. It's a time when credit procuring organizations should probably have their reins drawn in, with practices to limit the indebtedness consumers can get themselves into, and a focus on domestic savings. Let's try and stimulate our economy by getting the rest of the world to spend while we fix our financial mess at home.

Gas prices are at all-time highs. Are they going to go down anytime soon? No, so why aren't we putting any sense of urgency behind making mainstream alternative energy a reality the same way we put a sense of urgency in the space program when an actual leader was in the Oval Office and declared that we were going to the moon- and did it in under 9 years (too bad he couldn't see what we accomplished, but nonetheless, we made JFK proud). Are we that uninspired, or has our society regressed that much that we aren't prducing enough engineers and scientists who actually care to put in the research in this field. Surely, there's wealthy individuals out there willing to invest in what will eventually reap unbelievable returns as alternatives replace our oil dependence and free us from oil slavery.

So what's to come for the rest of the year? Hold on tight, because we're in a volitile BEAR market. Save your hard earned dollars, because who knows when the income stream may get interrupted in the near term, and let's stop spending frivilously. Let's also make our charitable donations domestically where they are needed. Yeah, I know they're starving in Africa, but are you aware of how many people in the United States have lost homes in the last 12 months due to natural disasters? Let's keep it in the family for now, folks.

On the bright side, dub-yah is gone in 7 months and we will be able to see a slightly clearer picture of how next year will play out. Perhaps we need an election to turn this economy around. I don't want to make any comparisons, but we did see some of the greatest government action after the election of 1932. Only problem is that we haven't really seen it since. But let's keep optimistic because, well, that's really all we've got, right?

Give it up to the Times!

....and mainly, Steve Hymon for taking over and vastly improving the quality of the bottleneck blog. As an Angelino, commuter, and disdainer of traffic and high gasoline prices, Steve's got all the issues covered! Here's a link to the bottleneck blog....

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/bottleneck/