Clarence Wigfall

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Clarence Wigfall Interview with Saverio Bellusci, PhD

Gordon Conference - Fibroblast Growth Factors in Development & Disease

March 2-7, 2014  Ventura Beach Marriott  Ventura, CA

The Gordon Research Seminar on Fibroblast Growth Factors in Development & Disease is a unique forum for graduate students, post-docs, and other scientists with comparable levels of experience and education to present and exchange new data and cutting edge ideas.

The focus of this meeting is emerging research on molecular mechanisms of FGF signaling and the involvement of these pathways in normal development and pathological conditions as well as in regeneration/repair after injury. The meeting will cover diverse areas of FGF biology including, but not limited to, developmental biology, cell biology, pathology, pharmacology, endocrinology and biochemistry.

Gordon Conference - Fibroblast Growth Factors in Development & Disease

March 2-7, 2014  Ventura Beach Marriott  Ventura, CA

Clarence Wigfall, of Advanced Science Communications, interview with Dr. Bellusci about the upcoming Gordon Conference on Fibroblast Growth Factors.

The Gordon Research Seminar on Fibroblast Growth Factors in Development & Disease is a unique forum for graduate students, post-docs, and other scientists with comparable levels of experience and education to present and exchange new data and cutting edge ideas.

The focus of this meeting is emerging research on molecular mechanisms of FGF signaling and the involvement of these pathways in normal development and pathological conditions as well as in regeneration/repair after injury. The meeting will cover diverse areas of FGF biology including, but not limited to, developmental biology, cell biology, pathology, pharmacology, endocrinology and biochemistry.

 

 

Register Now at the Gordon Conference Website

 

Why Ethics Driven Research and How?

Click through to presentation:

4 segments total time 12:39

Shooting Video

Space Shuttle's Last Flight

Right over my head, then two passes by the Hollywood Sign

The Second pass Really Really Nice!

 

Connie Rice quoting Frederick Douglass - “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.” pg 325

I've learned to quarantine the strategic incontinence of elected officials by blocking them off fromthemoney... I've learned to lock in long-term solutions, put the professionals in charge, and block politicians from diverting progress for their short-term political needs.... because it doesn't matter who holds it - power concedes nothing without a demand...

mothers of murdered children asked me to sue the gangs... one deputy chief, “file this, and you and your clients will be dead by sundown.”

In 2007 two mothers of murdered children had asked me to sue the gangs whose memebers had ruthlessly gunned down their kids. Instead of the killers' houses and money, these grieving women wanted the gang members' children - to save them from la vida loca. Although no court would ever permit it, I thought their vision was brilliant and moving, and I began preparing the case. After checking with top prosecutors and police, I was devastated to have to drop it. As one deputy chief put it, "You file this, and you and your clients will be dead by sundown." pg 307

 

“You have in Los Angeles what we call a sustained, incipient, parasitic insurgency.” Commander Gans in Power Concedes Nothing by Connie Rice pg 305

"I can't believe," he began with a heavy sigh, "that I'm over in Iraq fighting insurgent threats, and I come out here to L.A. and find out it's in my own damned backyard."

Even in United States below surface run dark currents repressed memories such as slavery and the genocide of native peoples

'After wars, societies are traumatized, above and beyond the physical death, injury, destruction, and cost... One way to deal with trauma is denial - put the war behind, never look back, and move on... Stanly Cohen writes that denial occurs when "people, organizations, govbernments or whole societies are presented with information that is too disturbing, threatening, or anomalous to be fully absorbed or openly acknowledged. The information is therfore somehow repressed, disavowed, pushed aside, or reinterpreted... Denial is understood as an unconscious defence  mechanism for coping with guilt, anxiety, and other disturbing emotions aroused by reality." Denial causes societies to repeat "stupid destructive things" withou even realizing they are repetitions...' pgs 306 - 307

 

During and after war societies arrive at unwritten agreements about can be publicly remembered but individual memories do not disappear

“But denial is always partial; some information is always registered. This paradox or doubleness – knowing and not knowing – is the heart of the concept. Sometimes, and this is especially true during and after wars, societies arrive at unwritten agreements about what can be publicly remembered and acknowledged ...[For example] the media image of the Gulf War was a masterpiece of collusive denial... Not did the public really want to know more. Given the past suffereing of societies around the world, even those that seem relatively tranquil now are still dealing with the terrible histories of atrocities and social suffering...In a society such as China, at peace for decades, memories of famines and civil wars still lurk....”pg 307

Just read

Winning the War on War – Decline of Armed Conflict Worldwide

by Joshua S. Goldstein

Denial's role in confusion is war getting worse in recent years

“Denial plays an important role in our confusion about whether war has been getting better or worse in recent years. Precisely because we remain in denial about past traumas, we cannot accurately compare them with today's situation. Sometimes denial is literal, such as when the government of Sudan states that attacks on civilians in Darfur did not occur. Other times, denial is interpretive – for example, the attacks occurred but they are not what they seem; … A third type acknowledges acts but claims they were justified. Sometimes all three types occur together: The massacre did not take place, anyway, it was accidental, and the victims what they deserved!” Joshua S. Goldstein Pg 306

What does this mean?

NPR Weekend Edition Sunday  Gen X Takes The Housing Hit; Boomers Only Grazed Another Misleading RealEstate Report?

 

I was listening to Weekend Edition Sunday and heard another of those reports that didn't seem to add up in my head. Later I ran the numbers based on their scenario. Still doesn't add up as reported.

This was the story, Gen X Takes The Housing Hit; Boomers Only Grazed

One of the points made was, “But still, even after adjusting for inflation, a person who sells a house purchased 10 years ago will make a profit today.” Another was, “the slump could permanently reduce the net wealth of an entire generation...”

People starting out who want to build wealth may be far better off not relying on the idea of their home building wealth for them. Especially with so many having a good college education, people today are very capable of learning how to invest in other assets – even real estate in the form of commercial and residential rental properties.

Why would we allow one segment, housing, to “permanently reduce the net wealth of an entire generation...”? When there are so many other ways to invest if you have the amount of money, income or cash flow that it takes to buy a home. We are being “mis-educated” by this kind of financial advice.

In reality, most Boomers did not make a profit on their homes. Or, they could have made much greater profit investing in other areas. Your story used a $100,000 purchase price for a home that was bought approximately 10 years ago and now being sold for $170,000. The idea behind these numbers did not seem very strong to me so I ran them out in two scenarios. Even in the 20% down scenario it can be strongly argued that the buyer (they are all buyers, not owners since the home was never paid for) could have increased their net wealth far more by renting and investing the difference in the monthly payments in other types of assets. Of course, we must also assume that these buyers did not Ever refinance. If we run the numbers I believe that we will find more people who are upside down because of multiple refinances than we have people who did not Ever refinance during the period that was discussed.

Where do the rich keep and create their wealth – in their homes as the rest are encouraged to do?

This animation is from the Guardian – the entire video is great but go two minutes in and watch for one minute: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/video/2011/nov/16/99-v-1-occupy-data-animation

After the numbers below there are two links to articles about the cost of buying that show that these numbers are reasonable. In fact, some would argue that the amounts should be higher to reflect replacement of equipment such as A/C units, water heaters and things like carpet.

It is time that we stop staring at the evaporation of artificially pumped up home values that clearly had to correct (deflate) and educate our young people about the methods highly successful people use to build and maintain wealth. The housing boom was always a bubble and an illusion.

I am not arguing against owning a home if that is what you want to do. But lets go back to the basics that a home has value as a place to live and maintain a private lifestyle. A home is not an investment vehicle.

If we look at a home as an investment vehicle this is what we see using your example:

Assume:

$100,000 purchase amount

100% financing but no additional penalty for Private mortgage insurance

6% 30year fixed

If Never Refinanced

 

Mon/Year	Payment	Principal paid	Interest Paid	Total interest	Balance
Dec 1991	$665.30	$81.97	$583.33	$583.33	$99,918.03
Jan 2011	$665.30	$154.52	$510.78	$60,591.32	$87,408.05

$665.30 x 1.40% = 931.42 actual payment

Total payment for period shown above = 111,770.40

Allow 30% for tax breaks on interest = 18,177.40

total “cost” of payments over time period

117,770.40 – 18,177.40 = $99,593.00

The buyer has paid $99,593.00 for a $100,000 home and still has a balance of $87,408.05.

Now the buyer becomes a seller and sells this home for $170,000.00

There is a 6% Real Estate Broker fee = $10,200.00

Closing costs = 3,155.00

Total Costs to Sell = 13,355.00

Balance to Seller = 170,000 – 13,355 = 156,645

Payoff of mortgage = 87,408.05

Balance to Seller = 156,645 – 87,408.05 = 69,236.95

Cash paid out by this buyer $99,593.00 - $69,236.95 amount netted by sale after 10 years =

Net profit/loss = - $30,356.05 for 10 years

 

20% Down

Assume:

$100,000 purchase amount

80% financing but no additional penalty for Private mortgage insurance

6% 30year fixed

If Never Refinanced

 

Mon/Year	Payment	Principal paid	Interest Paid	Total interest	Balance
Dec 1991	$479.64	$79.65	$400.00	$400.00	$79,920.36
Jan 2011	$479.64	$137.85	$341.79	$41,460.73	$69,220.64

 $479.64 x 1.40% = 671.50 actual payment

Total payment for period shown above = 80,579.52

Allow 30% for tax breaks on interest = 12,438.22

total “cost” of payments over time period

80,579.52 – 12,438.22 = $68,141.30

So the buyer has paid $68,141.30 + $20,000 (down) = 88,141.30 for a $100,000 home and still has a balance of $69,220.24.

Now the buyer becomes a seller and sells this home for $170,000.00

There is a 6% Real Estate Broker fee = $10,200.00

Closing costs = 3,155.00

Total Costs to Sell = 13,355.00

Balance to Seller = 170,000 – 13,355 = 156,645

Payoff of mortgage = 69,220.24

Balance to Seller = 156,645 – 69,220.24 = 87,434.76

Cash paid out by this buyer $ 88,141.30 - $87,434.76 amount netted by sale after 10 years =

Net profit/loss = $706.54 for 10 years

 Renters:

Renting house next door to purchased house – stayed in home for same period as buyer.

Rent avg per month = $665 Cost to Rent = 79,800 for 10 years

Funds available for investment

(no down payment amount saved) save/invest 266.12 per month = 31,93.44 over 10 years

(starts with savings equivalent to 20% downpayment savings account) save/invest 266.12 per month = 31,934.40 + $20,000 (the savings equivalent to the down payment) = $51,934.40 over 10 years

What could that have made over the 10 year period?

In our neighborhood, renting in Los Angeles – gated condo community, mostly long time owners who occupy their homes sale prices went to $450,000 and are now back to around $225,000 - $250,000. Rent remains constant at less than $1,000.

Buying in this Condo Development instead of Renting During the peak assume:

20% down

$360,000 mortgage

5% 30 yr fixed

Payment $1,932.56 + .4 (taxes, insurance, maintenance) = $773.02

Total monthly expense = $1,932.56 + $773.02 = $2,7055.58

Of course, at the peak many of these deals were 0% down:

$450,000 Mortgage

5% 30 yr fixed

Payment $2,415.70 x .4 (taxes, insurance, maintenance) = $966.28

Total monthly expense = $ 2,415.70 + $966.28 = $3,3819.98

These figures, as we know are catastrophic since these homes are now appraised at half of what they were bought for. The buyer cannot win on this one no matter what she does.

The point is that making a home the major asset and wealth builder is and was a bad idea. People who invest in real estate as a business are not counting their personal residence as an investment. They buy rental properties, commercial and residential and do the numbers so the properties have positive cash flow and make money. The expenses associated with these properties are tax deductible because they are part of a business.

There are many variables in the scenarios that I presented. The NPR report was, in my view, predictable and standard advice but very misleading and defeatist in tone.

Boomers experience has proven that homes are poor wealth builders. Why would the upcoming generations want to follow the same path that has become even less rewarding in a way that is very visible to everyone?

Background Articles on cost of home buying:

http://biz.yahoo.com/pfg/e10buyrent/art011.html

 

http://www.myspendingplan.com/articles/viewarticle.aspx?id=10

 

Houston PD Breakthrough Video Spots 37 years ago

“Make Ourselves Free”

“In 2001 We Promise”

I Wrote and Directed these. I'm still proud of them, they were game changers for Houston PD Recruitment.

Spot 1: "In the Year 2001 We Promise"

 

 

Spot 2: "Make Ourselves Free - Race of Life"

The Wall Street Journal Europe is to be investigated by the Audit Bureau of Circulations

Scandal surrounding Murdoch Papers in England now includes The Wall Street Journal Europe. What does this mean about standards of the paper in the U.S.?

The Guardian reports:

The newspaper circulation watchdog is set to launch an investigation into Rupert Murdoch's flagship Wall Street Journal Europe, following the resignation of its publisher amid allegations that it artificially boosted its sales figures.

Full Guardian Story Here