If your household income is $250,000, other people might consider you rich—even if it feels as if you're just getting by.

The big debate over tax cuts—and who, exactly, constitutes the middle class that should get most of them—usually focuses on a single income number. Barack Obama wants to target his tax cuts at people making $200,000 or less, and his tax increases at those pulling in $250,000 or more. John McCain appears to have a more expansive view of the middle class. When asked earlier this year what the income threshold for "rich" people should be, he took a stab and suggested $5 million.

Whatever the number, focusing on income alone overlooks many factors that affect whether people feel rich or not. Where you live is obviously one of them, since $250,000 buys a lot more in Milwaukee than it does in Manhattan. And as any parent knows, household income tends to evaporate when the bills for diapers, daycare, braces, and college come due.

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Worth noting: Pretty steep price cuts at the new, ocean-view luxury condos at One West Ocean in Long Beach.

Two examples: A two-bedroom, two-bath unit originally priced at $698,000 is now listed for $462,000, representing a 34% discount. A larger two-bedroom, two-bath originally priced at $1.026 million is listed at $735,000 -- a 28% discount.

If we follow Warren Buffet's principles, this is the season to buy when the price is cheap and nobody wants them.
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UAE based luxury boutique real estate developer, announced the release of a limited number of additional units at Nurai on the opening day of Cityscape Dubai 2008... Nurai represents an outstanding investment opportunity, primarily due to  the continued surge of Abu Dhabi’s economy, in particular its property sector, which is expected to drive property values even further upwards. To celebrate the arrival of Formula 1 racing in Abu Dhabi next year, Zaya will release additional units for sale in November 2009, as we welcome the exclusive guests of one of the world’s richest sport to our shores.

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Ever wonder how rich folks trade?

I don't mean hedge funds and the like. I mean the real rich, people with inherited wealth who don't have to spend their days huddled over computers in order to earn a living. They can hire the best help and advice out there -- they must be cleaning up, right?

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The past 2 weeks have been volatile, and we are expecting that the DJIA to continue going lower in the next few months. Wall Street has closed positively green yesterday following the talks by Bernanke and Bush. However, it doesn't look good for the next couple of weeks.

This might be a good time to buy puts options.
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"Stocks closed broadly lower as already jittery investors expressed disappointment that the latest Fed minutes showed policymakers were reluctant to cut interest rates.

"The comments from the Fed not indicating that a rate cut was imminent and further deterioration in the financial sector -- all of this combined and we're down substantially here," said Brian Schaeffer, an NYSE floor specialist at Van der Moolen."

When there is bad news, there are opportunities. But becareful not to catch a falling knife. Traders have bet millions that the stocks are going south earlier this week. If Bernanke does not cut the Fed Fund Rates, we think he might do another Discount Rate cut.

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All Asian indexes continues to fall by midday, with STI at -108 points. The morning started off with a positive note for the small cap stocks, but this was followed by a series of shorts and sell-off after tea-break but in small volume. By mid-day, a number of the stocks have completely reversed and in the reds.

The question is whether the selling would continue, or follow the speculation that the market might replicate what had happened to DJ on Thursday.
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Dow Jones made a surprise return to level from -300+ to just -15 points at closing.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two biggest U.S. mortgage funding companies, was said to play a bigger role in stabilizing the industry. Fannie Mae continues to talk with regulators about whether the housing finance company should increase the size of its investments in home loans as a means of stabilizing the rattled mortgage market. The stocks came back up after the shorters buy back shares to cover their position.

In any case, DJ rebounded during the day after a steep decline, but it had not moved up into the positive region. Quite hard to say if everything is really back to normal. The mortgage companies have the power to swing the market in either direction with just a simple one-liner.
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As of now, DJ has dropped more than 600 points over the past 3 days. By noon today, the scoreboard is -312.

A summary of the talks:
1) Addition of more funds to the banking system is not helping to alleviate the problem because the money is not getting to those that needs it more - mortgage lenders.
2) Cutting the interest rate is unlikely to solve the credit issue directly, but are expected to help provide a psychological boost.
3) Any decision to cut the interest rate can only be made around mid-Sep 07. But Fed has also said they are unlikely to cut the interest rates unless there is a calamity. Until then, the market might remain the same.
4) Other bad news such as housing data and increase in jobless rate could have helped in the decline.
5) Cutting the interest rates may affect the strength of the US dollars.

This is our summary of some pointers from CNBC.com. For more details, please visit the site.
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This is great way to cause more panick in the stocks market, esp. when it is trying to recover from 2 weeks of nightmare.

The warning message below was posted right on top of the front page at CNBC.com. It is probably better to stay at the sideline and watch the action, perhaps see which direction NYSE is heading. Money stays in the bank. And DJ has dropped more than 25 points when I type this... and -88 at mid-morning now.



After the above message was removed (before mid-day), DJ continues to fall -200 points at closing.
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