Infinite_Loser

With both the Euro and British pound reaching record highs against the dollar and the housing bubble ready to burst, it seems only a matter of time before the US economy is faced with the biggest recession in the last thirty or so years. Well, while surfing the web today I happened to stumble upon this article and I have to that it's, in my opinion, quite good and relatively true (To a point). Since the entire thing is quite long, I only want to focus on the author's proposed fixes for the situation.

Honestly, I think the guy's a genius and I agree with everything-- Except for point #2. I can't understand how giving people money to do nothing would stimulate the economy unless he's operating under the assumption that people will use that money to stimulate economic growth. Meh... Either way, I strongly believe that something must be done over the next few months or else the US economy (And a great deal of the world's economy, for that matter) will be in a hell of a lot of trouble.

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pan6467

Infinite, the die has been cast. I know this sounds paranoid (and is covered in paranoia) but the American people are going to be given the choice of total economic devestation OR uniting with Mexico and lowering our standards to theirs.

I do like what you quoted though, it is the best plan I have seen and it would save us.... but.... the powers that be have been sending us down this road for 20+ years and will not change course now, they have much more to lose if we save ourselves.

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I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?"

Nimetic

Errr. How does large scale cancellation of debt work? Nobody would ever invest in the country again.

There is already a mechanism for cancelling debt. I think it's called bankrupcy.

Baraka_Guru

Yeah, and more specifically, it's called foreclosure.

Debt crisis tops terrorism as threat to U.S. growth


Yes, that's right. Over 30% of economists now think the subprime and debt crisis is the single greatest threat to the U.S. economy...followed by 20% who think it's terrorism.

There are many people who will lose their homes. It's just a matter of time. It's sad really, but you can't go on for very long living with a negative savings rate. It catches up to you eventually.

Americans are known for their ingenuity and fortitude, especially when it comes to economics, so I don't think this spells the end-times. But I cannot help but think this is going to be a bumpy ride....for everyone.

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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
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Elphaba

Host has covered this in great detail in other threads, past and present. His prolonged absence troubles me.

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Willravel

Agreed.

There is a simple solution. Exchange all of your US dollar savings for gold, Euros and Yen. Diversify your savings and protect them. I mean honestly, this is a big bucket of duh.

If the dollar actually stops tanking and starts rising, you can exchange it back and you'll have made interest.

Baraka_Guru

Sage advice, willravel. But for many it is already too late. There are many who don't have US dollars (or any, for that matter) to exchange for the wonderful things you've listed. I'm one of them. I'm still reeling over an unprecedented student debt load. What my co-worker paid to get her degree wouldn't even cover a single year of tuition today.

As indicated, the problem is debt. Not all the debt you read about is taken on as a good strategy. There is often a difference between credit card debt and student loans, especially if you have a home filled with electronics that keep getting replaced for no real purpose. But debt (and a lot of it) is the sad reality of this situation. On average, people are spending more than they earn. What does that tell you?

And mortgages. Who doesn't want to own a home? Unfortunately, there are many nasty mortgage "deals" floating around. This is how many people get hooked, and now they'll pay the price.

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

aceventura3

Yea, where is Host? Perhaps he is gazing into his crystal ball to predict the next economic crisis. One thing I have learned from Host is to never underestimate the power of the exaggeration of bad news.

So that means 70% don't think subprime and debt crisis is the single greatest threat to the US economy.

Or people will continue to go to work, continue paying their mortgage and rent payments, continue buying food, clothing, electronics, cars, appliances, household goods, toothpaste, getting hair cuts, going on vacations, eating out, and spending way to much to eat popcorn in movie theaters.

Here is a tidbit to put this in perspective. In July Nevada was again the state with the highest foreclosure rate, that rate was 0.5% or 1 home 199. That means 198 of those homes did not forclose in July. If you annualized the 0.5%, it comes to about 6%, or 94% of the homes won't be in foreclosure in the worst real estate market in our live times in a state that had among the highest amount of real estate speculation and is known for high risk gambling. The second place state was Georgia with a rate of 0.3%. Florida was 7th, California was 4th.

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/07...paign_id=msnbc

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"Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on lunch."
"It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions on vegetarianism while the wolf is of a different opinion."
"If you live among wolves you have to act like one."
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shakran

Perhaps he is taking a well earned vacation. At any rate, your comment is tantamount to a personal attack. I find that when people make unwarranted attacks on the character of another in a debate, it is generally because their own argument is so weak that they need to distract attention from it. On reading your subsequent argument, I find this theory has been reinforced. You say people will keep paying the mortgage, keep buying things, keep going to entertainment, etc. I'd like to know how you think they'll do that if they don't have any money.

aceventura3

Actually, I was complimenting Host. In a previous thread he predicted the fallout from the subprime crisis. I felt the crisis would pass quickly and was primarily media driven. I was mostly wrong and he was mostly correct (I don't think things will ultimately be as bad as he predicted, but things are a lot worse than what I predicted). He takes shots at me and take shots at him.

People will keeping working, earning money to pay for things. Employment is at high levels, the economy is still creating jobs. Consumer spending is high, and the economy is still growing.

__________________
"Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on lunch."
"It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions on vegetarianism while the wolf is of a different opinion."
"If you live among wolves you have to act like one."
"A lady screams at the mouse but smiles at the wolf. A gentleman is a wolf who sends flowers."

Bill O'Rights

"Good paying" jobs, that kept people ensconced in the middle class, are quickly eroding. These jobs are being farmed out to an overseas market. Any jobs that are being "created" are at a much lower wage. Most spending being done, by the consumer, is on credit. Banks profit, Walmart profits, the American middle class is so much dust.

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Willravel

It's a slow process. I only change over a little every month (so far just gold, but I'm talking with someone about the legalities of holding euros in the states, which will probably address yen, too).

Let's say you have an extra $200 this month. You put "currency exchange" into yellowpages.com or something and can usually find a place that people visit before traveling. You go and say "I'm headed to Europe", hand them the cash, and get the euros. This is just in theory, but it seems to make sense. I have to meet with my financial advisor.
People have bought into the debt system.

Honestly, our best bet is to stop putting money in banks and stop using credit cards. I own a home and my credit is crappy. Why? I don't own a credit card. I've only had one once, I bought like one pair of pants back in HS, then I cut it up. They are a bad idea. I'd like to get a decent safe in the house so I can cut out the bank, too.
This is the tough one, because there's really no way around this one unless you're super rich or super lucky. What might be better would be to buy a home in a cheaper area, and rent it out. You use the rent money to cover your own mortgage on the home you live in. Suddenly you're making one payment for two homes, and once you've finished paying for the cheaper house, you either sell it and buy the rest of the home you live in outright, or you just wait and let the rent payments finish your mortgage. You're still in debt, but it's nowhere near as much.

aceventura3

People have been saying that for the past 6 years at least. Is there any evidence to support this claim?

Our economy evolves, in the 90's IT jobs were the big trend, in the 80's it was MBA's, early in the '00 it was contracting or trades, after WWII through the 70's it was industrial blue collar jobs. My guess is that the next big trend will be in service industries including the medical field. Good people and people with the training will command high wages. People unwilling to adapt the the market changes will suffer. Imagine - a factory worker in the 70's who worked and got his MBA in the 80's, and then started an IT firm in the 90's, and then became a real estate developer early in the '00's, compared to the factory worker who did nothing but collect unemployment. The second guy is complaining about how manufacturing jobs have gone overseas and the first guy goes overseas to get $600 facials.

__________________
"Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on lunch."
"It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions on vegetarianism while the wolf is of a different opinion."
"If you live among wolves you have to act like one."
"A lady screams at the mouse but smiles at the wolf. A gentleman is a wolf who sends flowers."

Bill O'Rights

The 1/2 dozen, or so, manufacturing plants that have been closed in the Omaha area. I don't need a bunch of economic mumbo-jumbo to support my claims. I see what I see. I see manufacturing plants closed, bulldozed, and Walmarts put up in their place. I suppose the economy's good...if you build Walmarts.

That's a highly adaptable factory worker. My hat's off to him. Most people, however, are not that adaptable. Some people are more suited to read a tapemeasure than a spreadsheet. Some people are more adept at selling a home than building one. People just aren't as adaptable as machines, that can be instantly retooled to produce a different run of parts.

__________________
"I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires." - Susan B. Anthony

"Hedonism with rules isn't hedonism at all, it's the Republican party." - JumpinJesus

It is indisputable that true beauty lies within...but a nice rack sure doesn't hurt.

roachboy

ace, there's really no doubt about the situation in manufacturing. it is absurd to pretend otherwise. i could present a mountain of data, but it seems to me so obvious that there's no point. such are the "efficiencies" produced by automation of supply chains for example. firms are inadvertently (and i mean that word because i am not trying to imply intent) good a not seeing the social consquences of exploiting such efficiencies. they dont figure in annual reports. they are not part of p&l.

if you like capitalism, it makes no sense to duplicate this blindness when you think about such consequences--head in the sand does not good. they exist whether you, ace or i or anyone else prefers to look at them or not. and much in the way of official stats duplicate the problem: since the reagan period, the us has dealt with structural unemployment by not counting it. you know this as well as i do. let's stop pretending otherwise. so if you like capitalism--which you clearly do--it makes sense--it is in your self-interest--to think about unintended consequences. and to address them. nothing changes about the system itself, you can still cheerlead for it all you want--all that would change is that your view would become coherent. more coherent. no magic, no reason to expect any.

there are two basic options. either state planning of economic activity in certain sectors, or actions on the order of microcredit, base communities etc. --both are geared around generating economic activity (or social coherence, take your pick in this case--since the idea that economic relatinons are not also social relations is absurd, there's no point in seeing a separation. and dont argue this point. you cant do it.) but are simply different wasy of proceeding. each has advantages and disadvantages. but the point would be the same either way--there is a requirement---an absolute requirement--for capitalism to operate at all--AT ALL--that there be a minimal level of social cohesion, which can be manoevered ideologically (marxian terms--dont flip out) into support for the overall socio-economic and political order. if you ignore this requirement, you are screwed. and we will all go down burning sooner or later.

so it is a system requirement. no way around it. capitalism is not, in the end, one thing--but taken as a whole, it is not floating about the social order--it DEPENDS on that order. so it is in the interest of all sectors--public AND private--to pay attention to the social consequences of system transformations. the hallmark of neoliberal ideology--beyond all others--has been the enabling of the private sector to act as though it is not dependent on a minimal degree of social solidarity and political consent. and that--above all others--is why that ideology was, is and will be a disaster. you already see it in almost every country in the southern hemisphere that has been subjected to structural adjustment programs, which you can see as instruments the primary function of which has been to stave off internal debt crises by transferring them onto southern hemisphere countries. that period--the one in which this was workable--is almost over. even people like you will have to start thinking otherwise, or, like is said, we will all go down burning.

there is no argument about the requirement.
there is certainly room for debate about how best to address it.
but even you cannot pretend that the american system is still entirely functional. i dont see it as too late to change course--but it has to change course. if you dont like the state, for whatever reason, then think about other alternatives. look to non-state forms of economic growth generation at the local level in the southern hemisphere. the united states is not some beacon of progress such that it has nothing to learn from the south. it is hubris to imagine that it is.

there's alot to say on this--more to say than there is time.
i am not sure that i agree with the article bit in the op point for point, but in that it points to a FUNDAMENTAL series of problems, it is a fine thing.

but pretending there are no problems to be solved is simply putting your head in the sand.

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it make you sick.

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aceventura3

My point is that people who adapt to changing labor conditions will be o.k. If a person does not have the skills for high paying jobs, there are opportunities for them to get those skills. I agree our economy is loosing manufacturing jobs.

I don't pretend otherwise. At one point the country lost a lot of good farm jobs. And you don't see to many black-smithing jobs either. Times change.

Please present something. My theory is that the net affect has been a net gain of "high paying" jobs. But people have been making the opposite claim, it seems to me with no evidence.

Do you know anyone unemployed since the 80's? Why did they stay unemployed? whos fault is it?

There are problems in our economy. Our economy is dynamic and there are forces that lead to corrections and in some cases over-corrections causing other problems. The system is not perfect. What is the alternative and shy do you think it would work better?

__________________
"Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on lunch."
"It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions on vegetarianism while the wolf is of a different opinion."
"If you live among wolves you have to act like one."
"A lady screams at the mouse but smiles at the wolf. A gentleman is a wolf who sends flowers."

roachboy

i suggested a couple in the post above, ace

__________________
a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear

it make you sick.

-kamau brathwaite

aceventura3

We currently have state planning of certain portions of our economy, I don't understand what is meant by microcredit and base communities. We do not have a pure capitalistic economy, it is a hybrid, so I am not clear on what alternative you propose. are you simply suggesting more centralized control, if so, of what economic sectors?

Here is some data, it could be used to support either positions, but does not indicate a crisis. However, there are some trends that should be considered.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1188..._us_whats_news

__________________
"Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on lunch."
"It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions on vegetarianism while the wolf is of a different opinion."
"If you live among wolves you have to act like one."
"A lady screams at the mouse but smiles at the wolf. A gentleman is a wolf who sends flowers."

shakran

I fail to see how accusing him of exaggerating bad news is a compliment

Unless they're downsized.


Yes, this is the same bullshit that Bush is trying to convince the public with. Sure jobs are being created. Only trouble is that jobs were first lost in droves. Well paying, middleclass jobs that is. And now jobs at Walmart are being created. Not exactly an overall booming economy if you look at the big picture.

financed by a mountain of consumer debt. Just wait till the bill comes due because unlike the government, we lowly citizens aren't allowed to just keep borrowing more and more money forever.

ASU2003

That used to be a good idea. That was when house prices were going up. Now you would just have two mortgages, and if you lost your job and couldn't find someone to rent the other place, your savings would go fast. That is if you even had savings after paying the 20% on a normal home loan. If you do the crap that the mortgage industry has been puling the last few years, I won't feel bad when you have to foreclose and are financially ruined.

aceventura3

He more accurately predicted the market reaction than I did, but the fact remains that the market response is an over-reaction to exaggerated bad news. Most non-media people not in the business of subprime loans, new residential construction or residential real estate in general, are conducting business as usual - certainly not in a panic.

I was "downsized" once and on another occasion I lost a job because the company I worked for went bankrupt. In both cases I dusted my ass off and got another job. Downsizing happens. Downsizing will continue to happen. People collect unemployment, some get severance packages, and some have saved for a rainy day. Loosing a good job often leads to better opportunity, it just depends a a person's outlook. In some cases a "downsized" person may need to move to an area with job growth. Those who wait, and hope that things will go back to the way they were - generally are wasting their time. They need to take aggressive and immediate action when they see what is going on.

How about the national nursing shortage. Those are well paying jobs. In my area there is a teacher shortage, every year they have trouble filling vacancies. They also have trouble finding bus drivers. Insurance companies have never stopped hiring and looking for good people. There is growth in the number of government jobs. there are job opportunities in the financial sectors of the economy. The leisure and entertainment fields are growing. And anyone with any ability to sell, can pretty much work in any industry they choose. Or how about all the self employment business opportunities today compared to 10 years ago ( the guy who services my computers, has hundred or so clients, works from home and is happier than he has ever been. Most of the time he comes with his dog, has no employees, no office politics, lucky SOB) A person can easily trade in their welder's mask for another job, and in the long-run be better off. That is not bullshit.

Again, you can not look at debt in a vacuum. You have to look at debt relative to net worth. If a billionaire has a million dollar credit card debt, so what. Even a graduating 22 year old college student with let's say up to $100,000 in student loans and consumer debt may not be in trouble assuming their future income as a result of a four year investment in higher education makes incurring the debt worth while. If a home owner with tons of equity taps into that equity for whatever they wanted to spend the money on, why is that a bad thing? If after the loan on their home they still have equity, so what? Or even if they don't, but are not planning on selling their home anytime soon, the values will go up over time. Just looking at raw debt numbers can be misleading.

__________________
"Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on lunch."
"It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions on vegetarianism while the wolf is of a different opinion."
"If you live among wolves you have to act like one."
"A lady screams at the mouse but smiles at the wolf. A gentleman is a wolf who sends flowers."

37OHSSV

I find the appellation "personal attack" to be quite inaccurate and unwarranted here, and it serves no purpose but to distract from the discussion.

In regard to the thread subject, David Walker, in this segment from 60 minutes, identifies the actual greatest threat to this country.

ratbastid

Foreclosures have doubled in the last year and are expected to accelerate even more in coming months.

Housing starts are at their lowest level in the last 10 years.

In my humble opinion, you have to have your head pretty far up George Bush's ass to not realize there's something dramatic happening.

A big part of the problem is that these Sub-Prime Loans have been basically unsecured. They released borrowers from almost all documentation obligations. As a result, something like 1/3 of borrowers inflated their income on their applications. So they're in loans they actually can't afford, and that are only going to get more expensive over time.

So you could say, well that was foolish on their part, they deserve what they get, whatever. Here's the thing: our banking industry is based on the value of debt. Banks holding consumer debt are able to sell that debt to other banks--and that's the basis of the value of the banking industry and as a result of our economy. There are all these loans out that are basically valueless, because the bank now has no idea how much the guy makes, how much the house is worth, etc. That loan is now illiquid--it can't be turned into cash if the bank needs it. That illiquidity means the bank is unprepared for the sort of panic runs that illiquidity itself tends to trigger.

aceventura3

Or, perhaps my head is not up his ass...and there is actual data to support that it is not.

Today's WSJ:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1188..._us_whats_news

__________________
"Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on lunch."
"It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions on vegetarianism while the wolf is of a different opinion."
"If you live among wolves you have to act like one."
"A lady screams at the mouse but smiles at the wolf. A gentleman is a wolf who sends flowers."

ratbastid

George Bush will be announcing a policy this afternoon to mitigate the crashing housing and loan market, and help protect homeowners from foreclosure.

Is it STILL a non-event, ace? Even now that His Georgeness is doing something about it? Granted, we don't know what he'll say, but it sure looks like the neocon talking points just flip-flopped, like just now. Are you going to flop along with them?

aceventura3

I missed the big announcement. What is he going to do? Are you sure it wasn't just a PR move to get brownie points?

__________________
"Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on lunch."
"It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions on vegetarianism while the wolf is of a different opinion."
"If you live among wolves you have to act like one."
"A lady screams at the mouse but smiles at the wolf. A gentleman is a wolf who sends flowers."

tecoyah

He has asked to update the FHA, and increase the levels of mortgage protection financing for sub-prime mortgages before they increase this year.

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Baraka_Guru

This is pretty much why I have few options available right now. My income just barely covers my expenses and debt payments. My only viable option that would have any effect right now would be to increase my income, which is what I'm working on right now. I'm trying to set myself up as a freelancer. Once (or if) that money starts to come in, most of it will go toward high-interest debt payments.

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

ratbastid

Here ya go: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...la-home-center

While this LOOKS like a bail-out for people in bad-deal loans, it's REALLY a bail-out for the banking industry, with happy side-effects for some homeowners.

Even so, it's a clear policy shift from the top. So, TFP neocons: you shifting with your bosses?

kangaeru

Not to be a snot nosed bookworm, but international trade and monetary theories are in place, and have been for years, which explain a lot of what we're seeing in the U.S. economy to a large degree.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heckscher-Ohlin_model

The Heckscher-Ohlin Model

This will explain why manufacturing jobs are leaving the U.S.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolper-Samuelson_theorem

The Stolper Samuelson theorem

This will explain why unskilled labor in the U.S. has been hurt by int'l trade.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leontief_paradox

The Leontief Paradox

A study which seemed to contradict the predictions of the H-O model, however provided labor is divided into more detailed groups than "skilled" or "unskilled" it still holds true.

Basically, what all this means is that what is happening in the U.S. economy is not surprising. The fact that the U.S. dollar is dropping is good--that is the reason that the US automakers in Detroit will be able to export their goods to developing countries like India, Singapore, Thailand, Brazil, Mexico, etc, etc. The falling dollar is what will make American exports competitive abroad once again. Ironically, the fact that the U.S. dollar is falling places less pressure on U.S. firms to outsource jobs to foreign countries.

As far as the credit crunch goes...it's been inevitable. Every business in this country is designed to get you to spend more money than you wanted to--if you sign up for a credit card, you're also usually paying for id theft protection, credit report updates, etc. If you're buying a car you're paying for an extended warranty. If you buy a cell phone you have to get a case, and chargers, and text messaging, and internet service, blah blah. You can't call up to ask a question about your cable bill without someone trying to sell you something.

It's no wonder everyone has financed themselves into debt. However, as Ace has said, people will continue to live their daily lives, the apocalypse will not come, and life will continue on as normal. There is pretty much nothing worse an economy could go through than what happened to Japan when the bubble burst. Think of the federal reserve pulling an Enron--that's pretty much what happened, they used the same accounting practices. Anyways, the market corrected itself, and although there was a long recession people still put food on their tables and rooves over their heads and sent their kids to school.

I don't think we're heading for a correction as serious as the Japanese bubble economy--in the long run, we will be fine.

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aceventura3

I am an independent thinker. Bush's speech was pure PR. The policy changes he announced will have no real impact on the economy other than a psychological impact. In your cite FHA states 80,000 more people will finance under FHA secure. That is going to be about $3.2 billion in loans.

I think the Leontief Paradox fails to take into consideration the value and static nature of infrastructure. In the short-run there appears to be a contradiction to the H-O model but I would argue that is not true in the long-run. If labor intensive industry develops first and then more capital intensive industry becomes available and becomes more common, I think what you have is a pattern of leap frogging from because of the static nature of infrastructure regardless of labor or capital efficiencies. For example in the US telecommunication industry, our system was based on land lines and was highly labor intensive. In developing nations that never had the infrastructure of land lines got a more immediate benefit from cellular technology as telecommunication developed in the countries. So, let's say in 1995 it took our nation more labor to deliver a financial transaction via telecommunications than a country like Norway. However, that will most likely not always be true although still currently a country like Norway has systems in place where they can do much more with cellular telephone technology than we do.

We also have situations where companies like Toyota, Nissan, BMW opening manufacturing facilities in the US. One of the problems with Detroit and the automotive industry seem to be in there inability to adapt to changing market conditions. Again, the infrastructure put in place in 1950, with by today's standards inefficient labor cost structures and facilities, has hurt their ability to be competitive in the world market place. Also, one could argue that government tax policy, interference, regulations, etc, has hurt as well. I agree the the value of the dollar is a factor, but I think it is a small factor.

Companies that stay in business over the long-run are more designed to offer value. If people felt they were not getting value for the "more money than you wanted to" spend, the spending more would not last long. The "Would you like fries with that? Yes I would" works because I actually feel that the fries added more value to my lunch than the cost. If I did not think that was true, I would do it the second time.

People went into big debt with real estate speculation and second mortgages because there was a strong value proposition in doing so, from lenders and borrowers points of view. Now that value is not as strong and conditions will and have changed. I think this is a pretty normal market cycle except for the over-reaction.

__________________
"Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on lunch."
"It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions on vegetarianism while the wolf is of a different opinion."
"If you live among wolves you have to act like one."
"A lady screams at the mouse but smiles at the wolf. A gentleman is a wolf who sends flowers."