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One other thing:
I am pretty sure everyone here has heard “BA prices never go down†in their real life from people around them.
I know that I certainly have never heard anyone say such thing. If someone said this, they would have to colossally ignorant of history, since prices have declined at least three times in the Bay Area during last 50 years, most recently during the early 90s. And these are just the nominal declines.
But unless prices drop a bunch more in my neighborhood, it is not really going to have much of an impact on my life, since I still can’t afford the bigger house I want.
My wife was at the playground and a couple was leaving to checkout a 2bed/1bath bungalow for $700k -- WTF. While the marginal areas are getting foreclosures and the price drops (think near Oakland border), they are still putting something in the water in Fortress [insert your favorite Bay Area region]. Enough for me to give a second thought to selling...
I found this video from CNN rather disturbing, on several levels. We are now seeing parking lots in middle class CA reserved specifically for, and filling up with, people sleeping in their SUV's. A modern day version of the Joads and the beginnings of the new American depression taking shape.
Incarnated as mobile homes, if this trend continues, our Exxon Mobil Detroit cabal induced SUV fleet may actually help in offsetting foreclosure induced rental demand. Maybe a bit of a stretch, but those empty retail parking lots and oil gobbling monsters may be put to a new use.
http://money.cnn.com/video/#/video/news/2008/05/15/news.gutierrez.parking.cnnmoney
Agreed original thread topic is tin foil, but here is a recent supporting piece on cash starved state governments being a little over aggressive in their seizure of "abandoned property".
It appears that safe deposit boxes are getting drilled and emptied. And the State government of California appears particularly out of bounds.
nvr,
Interesting stuff. Did you also see the recent article (?WSJ) discussing the idea gaining traction to "infill" some of these vast parking lots used for suburban corporate campuses with housing. The idea is that this would reduce commuting, add character to a soulless landscape, and best of all, much of the infrastructure (electricity, plumbing, etc) are already in place.
Seems like an idea even Kunstler would approve of.
On Federal Reserve, we need some sort of revolution like French Revolution ... otherwise situation is unlikely to change. Infalationary loot will continue to go on. We are being bought with our own money and we can not do anything.
We are not the French. If we want to emulate the French, let's start with the cuisine.
We should only accept peaceful, market-driven changes.
Maybe a food revolution. I thought the organic food movement is going already.
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Inflation punishes the holders of paper cash. They can be certain that the value of their savings in US dollars will fall unless they can earn interest on them in excess of inflation.
The way to earn interest on dollars is to put them in the bank.
But that gives the government power, because once the government knows where people have their money, it can be taken away. I just talked to someone in a dispute with the IRS who told me how the IRS simply deducted what it thinks he owed from his bank account, and there was nothing he could do about it.
They don't have that power if you do not have a bank account.
So is inflation also a means of government control over the public, forcing them to use banks?
Patrick