Route 66 first entered the general public conscience in 1939 when California writer John Steinbeck published his novel “The Grapes of Wrath”, detailing the westward migration of Oklahoma’s Dust Bowl farmers to California’s San Joaquin Valley. During the story, he refers to Route 66 as the “Mother Road”, a nickname it still has today. When Steinbeck won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel, the road became even more famous.

The highway also gave its name to a popular television show, “Route 66”, broadcast during the early sixties in the United States. The show featured two young men looking for adventure along America’s highways and was clearly inspired by passages from “On the Road” by Jack Kerouac, his book describing several cross country adventures undertaken in the 1940s. The book has since become a literary staple for any would-be road trippers and has inspired countless journeys down Route 66.

Starting in the 1950s and continuing gradually over the next 25 years, old Route 66 was bypassed section by section as the high-speed Interstate highways were completed. Finally, in 1984, when the last stretch of freeway was finished, Route 66 was officially decommissioned; the old route is now designated Historic Route 66 and is firmly lodged, with an almost mythical quality, in modern popular culture

While much of the appeal of taking a trip down the legendary highway lies in the thought of being on the open road in the wilderness, speeding past one great attraction to the next, Route 66 also takes in some of the United States’ most archetypal roadside scenes including great displays of neon signs, rusty middle-of-nowhere truck stops and kitschy Americana. These almost accidental tourist attractions detail a rich part of America’s history, with many of the roadside cafes and motels being opened during the Great Depression when hundreds of thousands of farm families, displaced from the Dust Bowl, made their way west along Route 66 to California. Indeed, many of the small roadside towns along the route only survive today due to shameless self promotion of attractions and nostalgic travellers, eager to enjoy a small part of this increasingly endangered American experience.

Over the past 50 years, more and more people have set their sights on a trip down Route 66 and with constant developments in the world of automobile travel, particularly in the realm of car finance, the experience is no longer exclusive to people with time on their hands and money to burn.

From the suburban idyll of Southern California, past the Grand Canyon and the Native American communities of the desert southwest, to the gritty streets of St. Louis and Chicago, a trip down Route 66 is truly the pinnacle of road tripping for any traveller and offers an unforgettable journey down the Main Street of America.

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From the vaults an old promo clip for the Stones “New Album” Exile On Main Street. Mick Jagger on Piano recorded at Sunset Sound Studios, Los Angeles 1972. Photos by John van Hamersveld and Robert Frank. Voice over by Marshall Chess.

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Rolling Stones Exile On Main Street Blues is a post from: PigTown main Street

A funny thing happened on the way to writing this column. Ferris Bueller’s economics teacher beat me to deadline.

Even scarier, I agree with Ben Stein’s position in his New York Times piece August 8. Chicken Little got it wrong. The sky isn’t falling. And healthy financial adjustments are being made from Wall Street to Main Street.

But let me take Stein’s premise one step further.

While Stein attributes the stock market correction largely to subprime mortgage fears and a panic exacerbated by the media, the real estate market is behaving in a similarly petulant way.

Despite the best discounts in years, no one is buying. Investors are sitting on the fence. Media mavens, looking for strong angles at editorial budget meetings are jumping all over the alleged real estate market crash story when what’s really happening is likely closer to a healthy industry correction.

Consolidation is good for business. It weeds out the marginal, the fraudsters, the corporate wanna-bes. The over-leveraged. The real estate and stock markets will come back – at a deliberate and sustainable pace. And we will all be better for it.

Remember those offers of generous equity lines? Gone.

How about getting a mortgage with a credit score below 600? Not a chance.

Exotic mortgage instruments that don’t verify buyer income? Good riddance.

Greed, for lack of a better word is human nature. So is avoidance. Consequences be damned. And we are all to blame.

A glance at the headlines at Condo” target=”_blank”>www.CondoVultures.com/”>Condo Vultures LLC sums up the general panic. If there is any positive in the reporting, I haven’t seen it.

The media lives in a heaven or hell world. Investors, and the financial institutions that serve them, have the Sword of Damocles dangling over their heads. Not that some consternation isn’t deserved. It is.

So now that the self-flagellation is over, let’s suck it up and get back to reality.

When the devalued dollar begins to rise again, it will already be too late for foreign buyers in Tokyo or the United Kingdom looking for a good U.S. acquisition.

I believe the same holds true for real estate. By the time the market begins to turn, valuable equity will be left on the table for those buyers looking for even more discounted prices.

Whether you are playing the stock market or the real estate market, a buyer’s market is all about good pricing, and not about knowing the perfect time to pounce.

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Bob Seger& The Bullet Band-Mainstreet … Gran tema!!!

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BOB SEGER & THE SILVER BULLET BAND is a post from: PigTown main Street

WALL STREET VERSUS MAIN STREET! June 19, 2009.

The Administration has provided Congress with a proposed overhaul of financial industry regulations that is sweeping in its coverage to say the least, the most serious attempt to protect investors since the 1930’s, but guaranteed to have Wall Street and its powerful friends taking up arms against it.

And there’s more than enough in it to have Wall Street fighting back – much as they did with the reforms proposed in the 1930’s, after the 1929 crash.

(Before the Securities and Exchange Act was finally passed in 1934, Sam Rayburn, Speaker of the House at the time, said that Richard Whitney, president of the NYSE at the time, mounted “the most powerful lobbying effort ever organized against a bill.”) The bill did pass, but in a watered-down version, which will no doubt also be the outcome this time.

But if only part of the proposed overhaul survives to become law, it could be the most important improvements in investor protection ever.

Just to touch on a few of the many proposed changes:

Hedge funds, private-equity funds, and venture-capital firms would be required to register with the SEC, keep SEC approved records, and make periodic disclosure reports in much the same manner that has been required of mutual funds and money-management firms for decades. The disclosures would include their debt levels and the amount of leverage they are employing in their strategies.

It would subject any financial firm large enough to be a risk to the financial system to a greater degree of regulatory oversight than others, including periodic ‘stress tests’.

It would replace the Office of Thrift Supervision with a National Bank Supervisory Agency that would have the power to oversee Federal Reserve branch banks and U.S. branches of foreign banks.

It would bring markets for over-the-counter derivatives under the regulatory umbrella, more seriously regulate derivatives dealers, and force derivative trades to be executed in public view, such as on exchanges. It would also provide controls to protect “unsophisticated parties” from investing in derivatives “inappropriately”.

A new Consumer Financial Protection Agency would be created, with authority over consumer-oriented financial products, which are now only loosely regulated, including mortgages and credit-card offerings. The new agency would also have “a leading role” in informing and educating consumers, to make sure they are aware of the types of risks and pitfalls in various financial areas.

Brokers and non-registered financial planners providing investment recommendations to customers would be held to the same ‘fiduciary’ standards as registered money-managers and financial advisors. (A fiduciary is required to place his client’s interests ahead of his own, a standard not currently required of brokers unless they are also registered with the SEC as a financial advisor). That would likely result in changes in the types of products offered by brokerage firms and mutual funds, as well as the methods by which brokers and commission-based financial planners are compensated. It would be difficult for them to put a client in a front-end load mutual fund or annuity for which they receive part of the load as a sales commission, if similar and suitable no-load funds and annuities are available at lower cost for the client. It would also be more difficult to ‘churn’ client accounts to produce more commission income. The penalties are potentially severe. A fiduciary who violates fiduciary duties when involved with the assets of others can be sued not only for any financial damages, but also punitive damages.

One section of the proposals likely to run into particularly serious opposition in Congress is the proposed broad expansion of the authority of the Federal Reserve. The agency that could have done the most to prevent the stock market bubble in the late 1990’s (then Federal Reserve Chairman Greenspan even coining the phrase “irrational exuberance” to describe what was going on, but doing nothing about it), and the housing bubble in 2006, would be given substantial additional responsibilities to control the ‘too big to fail’ financial institutions?

But don’t expect regulatory reform of the financial industry anytime soon anyway, or for the final bill to look anything like the proposals. There will be months of lobbying, angry debates, compromises, and concessions. Then we’ll see what comes out the other end of the process.

However, given the mood of the country toward Wall Street and the financial industry, and the serious damage done to so many, some good things could eventually come out of the proposals that will provide more investor protection in the future.

Sy Harding publishes the financial website ” target=”_blank”>www.streetsmartreport.com”>http://www.streetsmartreport.com/ and a free daily market blog at ” target=”_blank”>www.syhardingblog.com”>http://www.syhardingblog.com/.

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I picked a bunch of famous guitarists and put it to the tune of “Mainstreet” by Bob Seger. The guitarists in order are: Chet Atkins (b. June 20, 1924- June 30, 2001) George Harrison Band: The Beatles (b. February 25, 1943- November 29, 2001) Eric Clapton Band: Cream (b….

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Mainstreet- Bob Seger is a post from: PigTown main Street