No Longer Boatless in Seattle

I took a trip up to Anacortes yesterday and came back with my boat. I had been boatless in Seattle for a couple of weeks, having taken WaveGuide up to Anacortes for a bit of minor maintenance. I had already done oil and filter changes myself, but I needed to have the boat hauled out to repaint the bottom and change the zincs. I could have had that done here, but I took the boat up to the factory so that they could touch up the repairs on the woodwork I'd already done. I've kept up with the inevitable minor scuffs and blisters on the woodwork myself, but I'm not very skilled at making it look really good. So I had San Juan Yachts do it, and to buff and wax the hull while they were at it. WaveGuide is looking pretty these days, which is a good thing because I've cut the asking price and asked the broker to put a push on selling it. This is about as good a time to sell as any, with the annual Seattle Boat Show running for the next couple of weeks here. I think I'd like to sell it while a few people still feel rich before the markets melt down entirely. I'd still like to buy a sailboat, but if WaveGuide doesn't sell, I'll happily make good use of it. I filled up with fuel yesterday and updated my log. Since I got the boat seven years ago, I've put 1308 hours on the engines, burned 11,912 gallons of diesel, and put on 15,142 miles.

Speaking of markets melting down..... The financial talking heads on TV are always saying not to panic and sell at the first sign of a down turn. What the hell are they talking about? Something like 80% of publicly traded shares are controlled by instiutions like pension funds, hedge funds and brokerage houses. There's no way all the little guys in the market can move the market up or down like the big boys do. And as for the Bush's "stimulus" package.... I'm no economist, but I don't see how $150Billion can have much effect in a $13Trillion dollar economy. And as usual, the $150B is all wrapped up in tax cuts, when all respectable economists are saying that for the "stimulus" to be effective it has to be spent right immediately, and not saved or used to pay off personal debt. Once again, the Democrats in Congress have caved on their plan to have the money used to extend unemployment and food stamp benefits. Those people would have spent the money immediately. And all this talk of "stimulus" makes me think it's all really about giving the economy a hand-job and making the markets feel good for a little while. How about a committed long-term relationship for a change?