Brandon Hernández 9:22 a.m., May 24
Ian Pike 9:11 a.m., May 24
Mtume Salaam 8:43 a.m., May 24
Gerald Bustamante 8:34 a.m., May 24
Garrett Harris 8:25 a.m., May 24
Smarter Cities Richer
Wow! Thanks, Don -- and everyone else who contributed to this thread! So many neat cities, so little time. Big news for me -- that Charleston SC has a US-average cost-of-living. It is a VERY beautiful city. Also, that there are so many nice alternatives to big-city living. And shocked that Detroit homes average only $71,000. For anyone worried that we still might be headed for another big crash, there's Eugene and Salem up in Oregon... nice enough, and you can grow anything in the Willamette river valley...— October 25, 2012 4:01 a.m.
Smarter Cities Richer
Don -- tell me there's a 'sweet spot' somewhere. Our top-earning cities, like Washington and San Jose (and San Diego) are wildly overpriced and overcrowded. Our lowest-earning cities, like Brownsville, aren't places where anybody in their right mind would go to live. Anyplace in the middle? With jobs, low crime levels, and a reasonable amount of educated people, but not so many as to be Starbucks-insufferable? Not completely congested? In that regard, I think cities built before automobiles are far better for walking... anyway, any ideas?— October 5, 2012 10:43 p.m.
Uncle Sam May Be No Help
It will take a few 'Occupy Rancho Santa Fe' days to start sorting things out in San Diego. Or perhaps 'Occupy Mille Fleurs'. However, nokomisjeff, you could hedge this dismal future by creating a new soft drink (or beer) called '99%' ... which of course would sell for 99 cents.— October 18, 2011 2:31 p.m.
Uncle Sam May Be No Help
nokomisjeff wrote -- "Remember, there's two kinds of people in the world, those who pay interest and those who collect it." Well, I'm part of a third group, trying to follow the old saying: "Neither a borrower or lender be." I don't see Wall Street acting in my interest. Perhaps we need a tax on every stock and hedge-fund transaction, to repatriate some of the money to the government where it can be used for the public good.— October 17, 2011 7:44 p.m.
Uncle Sam May Be No Help
Here, as elsewhere, the 1% super-rich have sucked up so much money that their middle-class workers no longer can afford homes. The rich have shot the golden goose. It's dead. They sent the good jobs to Asia to get short-term profits. New home sales, my key prosperity measure, are toast. If we can't re-distribute wealth peacefully, this country's going to blow up. If CEO > janitor income ratios can't get more like Japan or Denmark, the greedy 1% will simply have their wealth confiscated by desperate people.— October 16, 2011 8:11 p.m.
Case-Shiller Data Suggest Possible Housing Double-Dip
Don, wherever you are living now, could you please write another book, along the lines of 'Rancho Scama Fe, America's Crookedest White-Collar Crime Town?' Seems to me that over the years I've read a LOT of your articles about RSF criminals... certainly enough for an amusing and informative book? Not to mention the Heavens Gate folks, who, after all, were 'just renters', according to an RSF realtor. Enjoyed 'Captain Money and the Golden Girl' years ago... PLEASE write another one! FYI, self-publishing is now really moving along, with Lightning Source and Espresso Book Machines... easy now to write and distribute a book while printing only on demand... Jon Donahue http://jon404.com— March 30, 2011 2:15 a.m.