San Diego Housing Market News and Analysis

the nation could probably get behind constructing a massive southwestern fence.

unskilled human labor may be now worth less than zero, taking into account management costs.

you depress me.

sorry. maybe if oil were 50 a gallon, ditch digging would pay

Not sure if you realize it, but the detailed 1940 census data was just released. I've spent a few hours pouring over it, seeing whether the stories that have been passed down over the generations are true. I wondered if what I heard about my grandparents generation really happened that way, or whether things have been embellished.

Having reviewed the census data on about 5 relatives who were in their 20s and 30s in 1940, I found something astounding: every one of them worked for the WPA and had done so for about half a year. Every one!

They weren't building Hoover Dam (though my grandfather on the other side of the family did) or the Golden Gate bridge. They were each doing much more mundane jobs such as driving trucks for road projects, and plastering new or rebuilt schools. They were working on projects that have been forgotten over time.

Fast foward to the last 4 years. Obama implements the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). $46 billion of that is going for transportation and mass transit projects.

On October 2, 2009 Schwarzenegger applied for $4.7 billion for California's high speed rail. The White House approved $2.35 billion of that, and it is part of the funding being used right now to construct it.

Don't believe me, read about it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_...

Is it being implemented overnight? Well, no, there are hoops that have to be jumped through for sure. It is taking more time than 1940. But I tell you what, I'd rather go through all the environmental checks and other approvals than to have some irresponsible beaurocrat implement something as monumentally stupid as the roadway built through the Roman Forum by Mussolini from 1931-1933:

Where, you may ask, are ARRA funds being used to build something in San Diego county?

In just a few minutes of searching, I found the following:

(there may be some overlap in these numbers, I have not deconflicted)

$72M - Transit Improvements
$58M - Trolley Improvements (may be included in above number? Not clear)
$9M - SR-76 and I-805 Improvements
$5M - Energy Conservation Improvements at various government buildings
$2M - Gillespie Field Airport Construction
$1M - Street/sidewalk improvements in Del Mar, Imperial Beach, Lemon Grove, Poway, Solana Beach

http://www.projectdesign.com/resources/n...
http://www.ncppp.org/publications/Transi...
http://www.recoverysdcounty.org/awards_i...
http://www.recoverysdcounty.org/awards_h...
http://www.recoverysdcounty.org/awards_e...
http://www.ncppp.org/publications/Transi...

Thanks for your "cursory" research, svelte. All good to know :=]

I grew up in Minnesota, the WPA projects were visible in every single park, the local courthouse, other buildings, bridges, etc. Beautiful work, lasting work.

This is a simple staircase in a small park. It's common to have the accompanying buildings match for a full day at the park. Firepits, open air dining lodge, restrooms, boatramps, parking.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/casualcamer...

Here's a partial list of the how much they accomplished in the West with roughly half inflation adjusted dollars that we spent on the first bailout.

http://livingnewdeal.berkeley.edu/map/ca...

Look at it and weep when you realize how badly we're being ripped off today.

We should have a list 4X as big as the Berkley list. We need a list 4X as big as the Berkley list.

Instead, we've lined the pockets of campaign contributors on both sides.

Was Franklin D. Roosevelt a great president or what?

I've never been to Rome. I had to look it up.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Via_dei_For...

I'm not sure what we'd lose but 1940s buildings from the construction of the high speed rail line in CA.

Remember when they razed old buildings in Manhattan to build the World Trade Center? Now the lost iconic Twin Towers are forever part of American history.

So many beautiful old buildings in NYC were lost to development. Isn't that progress?

Most of the projects undertaken by the stimulus were simply maintenance projects already in the works. There was nothing new, the fungible state dollar could be moved to other holes in the state and local budgets. The high speed rail project is a perfect example of our inability to build anything. In ca could we build hs rail? Of course, but the regulatory burden that chokes private business chokes public works twice as hard. I know some one who has been working for a whole department paid for by the state that studies just the water impacts for high speed rail. They have been going strong on this for years. I now think the entire goal of the project was not to build rail, butto throw a football to the state regulatory boards who will kick it around for years while we pay them to impede all progress. We plowed over the central valley years ago!

You might be confusing bailout and ARRA. They are two different things.
Man, those guys who did the WPA works had some class or what? I looked at some of the projects that were done with those funds in San Diego from the list you provided. Did not realize Presidio park and county building were built with those funds.

Such monumental projects should be built by a government that has no requirement to balance budget, market power to borrow practically unlimited amounts of money and one who can print money if the project does not work out. That would be the Federal Govt. of United States in 1930s.

The Federal Govt in the 2010s is in weaker position to fund such projects than the one in the 1930s because the debt-to-GDP ratio in the 1930s was much smaller than today. Most people miss this very important point.

Almost any great highly expensive project that you can think of in the world was built by a govt. that met conditions that I described above.

But Feds can still do it. So if they want to build high speed rail in CA and pay for it we should all welcome them here.

However, the State Govt of CA is a different animal. They have constitutional requirement to balance their books every year, they can not borrow unlimited amount of money from bond markets and they do not print their own currency. Also the last time I checked, we have a severe problem balancing the budget as is.

State Govt. of CA can not afford HSR and should not dream up such projects which have high probability of ending up as white elephants.

You could say the same thing about the WPA projects that my relatives worked on in 1940. Those roads and schools already existed, they were just improved upon with WPA dollars.

Look, if you want to get all worked up because dad gum it, the world has gone to hell since you used to wear an onion from your belt, go ahead. Just please gently brush the facts aside so the rest of us can continue to enjoy them.

It just seems to be a vast difference between how much we spend and what we get. That's all. I don't have the figures and maybe you do. I see little tangible to show for all the money we have spent, stimulus and otherwise. Wasn't trying to get worked up, simple as that.

That's an understatement.

They did that work paying less than $20,000 a year equivalent today. And that was the prevailing wage.

http://www.conservapedia.com/Works_Progr...
"The WPA employed a maximum of 3.3 million in November 1938. Worker pay was based on three factors: the region of the country, the degree of urbanization and the individual's skill. It varied from $19/month to $94/month. The goal was to pay the local prevailing wage, but to limit a person to 30 hours or less a week of work."