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Bush wasn't being stupid with the "polluter" remark. Bush is mean. One of the policy goals of his administration has been to prevent any move by the US to control greenhouse gas emissions, and he has succeeded. The other conference attendees have failed in one of their big goals, to get the US...

My thoughts on Fiorino as Veep are the same as yours. If he has to pick a woman I'd prefer Rice or Hutchinson - somebody who doesn't have a massive mess as her signature accomplishment. Given McCain's age, whether the Veep would be a decent President is more important that usual. I...

Great to meet all of you! I had a great time - in spite of ordering exactly the same thing as Caycifish - and getting the exact same drink service!

Graphix: that's a crazy high valuation for commute time. I generally use wage rates, which for a median income of 85,000 in Irvine is 42/hour. (and isn't that household income, too?) Even that's high, based on the actual choices people make - most people, or at least those who accept long...

Gas prices also have second and third-order effects on lower-density areas like much of the IE. The expense of getting around will make it more difficult for lower-class people who want to work and otherwise have lives to live there. That plus the transportation costs will drive up the costs of...

Lively downtowns in Socal? I can think of quite a few: Orange, Fullerton, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Seal Beach, Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, Santa Monica, West Hollywood. Arguably Corona. The redevelopment projects tend to fail because what works for a downtownish region is a...

Doing a quick scan I couldn't find actual percentage estimates but here's a link from <a href="http://www.housingwire.com/2008/05/28/alt-a-problems-grow-while-subprime-takes-turn-for-the-worse/">Housing Wire</a> discussing astronomical default rates on 2007 and 2006 Alt-A's, long before they are...

I think it's more a matter of most people not knowing where the market is. Prices have fallen more in the past *year* than they've fallen in any entire previous post-war cycle for California. It's hard to know what a used home is worth because there are so many variables. Somebody who did a lot...

Actually even the accelerated resets chart is turning out to be not particularly important. People stretched so far, and prices have fallen so far, that even *before* the reset people are paying more than rent, more than they can reasonably afford, and are hopelessly underwater. So they're...

Boy, this thread is going downhill fast. Can we all agree that most Americans, liberal and conservative, at least *want* to be decent people? Or at least that stereotyping invective doesn't lead to productive discussions?

I've been having sinusitis for a while so I had myself tested for allergies. I came up allergic to olive, eucalyptus, AND pine trees. :shut:

If you click on the "housing affordability in Orange County" link on that HousingTracker site you get "page not found". Somebody has a sense of humor there.

Best of times for whom? Maybe they mean best of times for builders, e.g. peak pricing of the previous cycle in 1990. :-P I think prices are now down around the peak of the previous cycle in terms of affordability measures, so I think it's technically true (if "best of times" is defined...

Housing doomed to foreclosure after an impending reset isn't in the "inventory" category. Even a house with a pending NOTS isn't inventory. Of course they *will* be inventory, but it's a different category. I don't think Ipop's minirecovery means anything. IMO it's real, but there have been...

Yeast paste works better than vinegar. Mix one of those live yeast packets with some water and some sugar syrupy thing (karo, honey, pancake syrup, whatever) and put that in the traps. Fruit flies go nuts for it.

I think Nanowest is right except now that you can get foreign currency deposits through online banking I'd put 25% or so in foreign currencies as a hedge against US-specific inflation.

Coastal California prices normally bottom at *four* times income, presumably due to relative desirability, so Irvine's income would suggest a median price of 340,000.

Insofar as inflation is caused by resource constraints (e.g. peak oil) it won't help homeowners. That's pretty much a bad for everybody (except oil companies and countries.) Insofar as it's caused by increases in the money supply, that *will* drive up wages, because there will be lots of dollars...