patrick.net

"It is quite foreseeable that future generations will place a premium on living out their entire lives entirely within such structures because they would provide the best protection against a rapidly deteriorating environment"

-Leading to the Arcondo boom of 2200, when people will use key organs for downpayment. Let's just hope it has a better plan than Biosphere II.

Imo: if the ecosystem ever gets that bad, we'll have a population reset; time for the remaining humans to start over. That is, if we're not forced back into a stone age.

If thrift was good enough for our great grandparents who survived the depression, it’s good enough for us.

If Stone Age was good enough for cavemen, it is good enough for us.

Here's an article surfer-x and other anti-boomers might get a kick out of. It's a bit sad, actually. Titled, ""Age 50 ... and little saved. When you hit that milestone, you've got to act fast. Here's a catch-up plan to follow"

http://tinyurl.com/fquax

“I’m turning 50 soon, and I’ve just started planning for retirement! Any ideas?”

Two variables: retirement saving, life expectancy

When one variable appears fixed, one can always tweak the other variable.

If Stone Age was good enough for cavemen, it is good enough for us.

We may someday get that wish, but the dental plan will suck.

If Stone Age was good enough for cavemen, it is good enough for us.

We may someday get that wish, but the dental plan will suck.

MMMMMM. Me like McMansion. Escalade drive fast. Me no understand strange loans from mortgage company. (grunt grunt)

Don’t miss this on why the US will still be the only superpower in the world by 2030.

Perhaps. But the USSR did not have many of the mentioned items and yet it was considered a superpower.

>>I just hope there’ll be a break for us sometime soon and houses will be a dime a dozen - then I’ll buy three!

As long as you think that, it won't happen. When housing is really broken, neither you nor anyone else will want anymore than one house, and that to live in.

"When housing is really broken, neither you nor anyone else will want anymore than one house"

I can't wait until this persistent myth is finally dead and buried, so I'll be spared the constant nagging from family to "invest" in residential RE. Back in 2004, I seriously considered buying a vacation home, until I started crunching costs vs. returns (conservatively). It didn't make any sense then; it makes even less sense now. If a financial noob like me can figure that out, what does that say about the older and hopefully more experienced homeowner? The change in sentiment will be refreshing.

Bhitis (aka Juku, aka GK),

You're welcome to decloak. So long as you don't call people traitors for disagreeing with you, you're welcome to discuss and link anything you wish.

I read that article a while ago, btw. The ascertains about the USSR are distorted. The problem was not the USSR's economic size -- it was in fact slightly larger than the US' during at least two points (because it included forcible aggregation of many other countries). The problem was sustainability.

Keynes himself demonstrated that any purely socialist command economy can easily outperform and outgrow any capitalist economy in the short run. But, it is like a sprinter racing a marathon runner. Socialist command systems collapse soon after they reach near optimal capital stock, because they have no choice but to then overbuild capital stock. Capitalisms, on the contrary, are always slightly capital starved because of more efficient allocation.

I have seen advertisements in the UK for...where the 2nd and 3rd bedrooms combined were 120 sqft.

I've heard how UK housing is legendary for its...spaciousness.
Where I lived in Europe, albeit a tiny country, we had surprisingly a bit more room.

New Thread: Dystopia

(a chance for doom & gloom)

Tubes,

You can buy a car from a dealership in another state without any difficulty. However, I think you'll find that you will get hit with sales tax, either in OR (even if they have no sales tax, they may have a special car tax that is called something else) or in CA when you register the vehicle here.

In fact, when I registered my car here after moving from IL, I seem to recall that the DMV had a complex system it used to ensure that even if you didn't pay tax when you bought the car, you'd pay CA sales tax upon registering the car, or something like that. I was worried about it becuase my car was new at the time. I think didn't have to pay it becuase I had already paid IL tax or something.

Hmmm.....

I wonder why this thread came up to the top again. The thread is three years old, back from when the curve was just starting to turn down. I sold my SJ house in May 2006 which in retrospect makes me look clever. Too bad I didn't dump my stock funds in May 2008. :(