San Diego Housing Bubble News and Analysis

Woody Guthrie circa 1930s:

Now as I look round, it's mighty plain to see
The world is such a great and a funny place to be;
The gamblin' man is rich and the workin' man is poor
And I ain't got no home in this world anymore.

It's always amusing to hear people rant about California, why it sucks and why we're all better off living in Nebraska or Idaho or some other hellhole.

The most curious parts is that rants always come from two diametrically opposite directions.

Group #1 complains that we have wasteful government that spends money out the wazoo and they are going to leave because can't take these insanely high taxes.

Group #2 complains that the state is falling apart because we have worst schools, because states like NY and CT spend twice as much per K-12 student as do we, that crime is rampant because our police departments don't have enough money and people (thanks to prop 13) ...

Trojan: IMO if you spend enough time on this board you might surmise that many piggs expend a tremendous amount of effort intellectualizing even trivial topics. That's because they're trying to out do one another.

I guess it's part of the So Cal culture - when you have to many rats competing for limited resources they tend to become aggressive and competitive.

Given our tax rate I'm surprised our per student spending is so low...oops, my bad - I forgot - most of the money is being spent to pay California teachers 30% higher than the national average and to fund their Golden parachutes - same goes for most other gov't workers.

Eugene: You sicken me with your denigrating remarks about Nebraska and Idaho. Your damn lucky to live anywhere in the United States.

You put down Idaho and Nebraska or any state for that matter and you put down the whole country as far as I'm concerned.

I don't know that this is a rant speficically about California. You could substitute just about any state for California. The nation as a whole in the crapper. I suggest everyone listen for the woosh and prepare for rotation.

Very few of my peers save, much less apply sort of financial planning. Their attitudes are that someone else will take care of it. No matter the issue, someone will take care of it.

Even if the prevailing attitude change to one of thrift and self sufficiency it would make much of a difference at this point. I can't help the feeling the we have passed the peak and are heading down hill at an ever accelerating rate.

Teacher salaries and pensions are included in per student spending.

BTW, Nebraska consistently spends more on K-12 per student than California. Even though their cost of living is much lower and they don't have to pay higher than the national average just to find someone, anyone willing to work as teachers.

Even if Teachers total compensation is included, I think we all know where the money is going...

Honestly though, I don't want to fight this battle, and I do think teachers deserve a good salary and benefits.

California cost of living is 136.6% of average.
California cost of housing is at about 200% of average.
http://www.top50states.com/cost-of-livin...

This would suggest to me that they make comparatively less than most teachers nationally.

Would you disagree?

""because if you're in debt up to your eyeballs some govt program will be made available to pay their way or introduce them to student debt""

You got that right.

I am 47, when I was 20 a high FICO score was an asset, you could do what less responsible people could not do. Eventually FICO scores meant nothing and anyone could buy a house, artificially inflating the prices. And when you trash your credit, you are given credit in less than a year. A high FICO score is not the asset it once was.

When I was 20, having a great deal of cash savings meant you could get ANY HOUSE you wanted. Eventually, housing became so expensive that was tossed out the window.

When I was 20, having a great deal of cash meant that after accounting for the inflation rate and taxes on earnings, you could still make a REAL rate of return on your money. Eventually, holding cash in savings means a constant erosion of purchasing power, a hidden tax. That too is now gone.

I am seriously thinking about buying a house with as little down as possible and should housing values go the wrong way, simply stop paying and live "rent free" for a year or two. Of course, if housing goes the right direction, it is happy days once again.

My Government wants me to take stupid financial risks. If I am prudent, I will be punished, if I am a spendthrift, I will be rewarded.

On CNBC they constantly talk about the "moral hazard" of all the bail outs. It is too late, when you have no finanicial morals to lose, how can you lose them?

Our Government can't even run a whore house..
http://www.dailypaul.com/node/83270
Back in 1990, the Government seized the Mustang Ranch brothel in Nevada for tax evasion and, as required by law, tried to run it. They failed and it closed. Now we are trusting the economy of our country to a pack of nit-wits who couldn't make money running a whore house and selling booze? Someone said because they do not like competition...
the politicians have been fu#$@!ng the public for years.

In my opinion, the post office, schools, the DMV all should be privatized. Whatever the government touches it ruins.

No, it suggests to me that they make 24.8% more than the average teacher on a national basis.

Nebraska? Not sure what you can do in Nebraska but retire. A family farm is out of the question, the mega corporations killed those off long ago.

As for LA raising prop taxes...they are cutting teachers (3000) but not as many as they should.

This comes back to the illegal alien thing. If they don't pay state taxes to pay for their children's schooling, we are left with free-loaders. The only way to tax them is sales tax and property tax which means higher Section 8 co-pays for housing. Which is a good thing. LA is filled to the rafters of crappy prop 13 rental houses owned by trusts. It's pure bullshit.

I'm assuming you forgot to include the military in this statement?

Having lived outside USA, I would say you can also substitute any country for California. The world as a whole is in crapper. I am waiting for Martians to come and take over

Yes, private sector will do the same great job that they pulled off with banks, healthcare etc.

Question: What is the solution to XYZ problem?

Republican Answer: Cut taxes, reduce spending, private sector, deregulation.

Democrat Answer: more taxes, more spending, public sector, regulation.

The banks should have failed. The government meddling is the biggest part of the problem. You obviously have forgotten about how well FEMA handled its duties.

Afx: Don't kid yourself, it's already been done.

Military service sent me over much of the globe, and one thing I learned is that every place has some things that are great, and some things that are bad. For my situation, moving out of CA was the best financial decision we could have made. There is simply no way we could have such a nice standard of living in SD with only myself working and the wife staying home with the new baby. The funny thing I've witnessed is how in California many people say, "Man, I wouldn't live anywhere but California." And then here many people say, "There's no way I would Ever live in California." Too funny.

As for this part -

"We are on our way to become irrelevant as a world power and we are watching the collapse of our civilization come about before our eyes."

In my opinion our civilization will not collapse, but yes we will become much more irrelevant. We will follow much the same path as Great Britain did from the 1850's to present. They were the super power from the early-mid 1800's until WWII. After all that expensive colonization and the devastating wars they still exist, but can no longer leverage even a fraction of the old world influence. BTW - our country becoming irrelevant as a world power is a Good thing in my opinion. We need to worry about ourselves, not the rest of the world.

I remember about 5 years ago listening to Michael Savage say we were going the path of the UK - seems to be a likely destiny.

This.

NC is basically in the same mode, although (thank gooodness) not to the level of CA just yet. Budget deficit, tax increases to cover shortage, education cutbacks, state gov. layoffs, climbing unemployment rates. Check, check, check, check.

Already they are looking at all sorts of 'revenue enhancements' aka taxes to make up a predicted shortfall next year. It's going to get ugly.

Still no word on really going through the budget and removing the truly unnecessary programs added in the 'good' years, just hand wringing and cries of "deep cuts" to "essential services".

Sound familiar?

"I remember about 5 years ago listening to Michael Savage say we were going the path of the UK - seems to be a likely destiny."

Like father, like son?

I've watched several friends and acquaintances leave CA as well. Maybe there are just too many squirrels chasing too few nut here, and it can make getting ahead hard.

I good friend semi-retired in Las Vegas and decided to move. I tried like hell to get him to come here but the states politics and business climate made him take a pass and ignore all the things he loved about CA (like deep sea fishing). He went to CO and paid as much for his spread as he would have paid here.

Is it just me, or have people absolutely lost their g-damn minds? I recall posting a comment on piggington once pondering what would happen if everyone just decided "screw it, I'm not paying my bills anymore!" Someone replied saying they expected a USC grad to be a little more intellectual than that. Not saying "told you so," but the mentality we are now facing with upside-down homeowners, car notes, credit cards, etc is exactly that. And you know what, those dumb ass politicians and bankers are playing right into it by creating new moratoriums on foreclosures, new subsidies to get people to buy still overpriced homes, subsidies to buy new cars, and expect to do this on the back of a smaller workforce making less money.

Well said! I day dream sometimes about Americans turning this mess around on TPTB and using this opportunity to effect a "fight club" reset of the debt ball and chain.

If you ever thought of telling the bankers to suck it, now seems like a pretty good time? You'll have lots of company, and be hard to single out.

Housing is biggie for many of us. Some still think they are gonna get rich on RE and are over-bidding now and hoping to flip.

That mentality needs to die. We need really, really affordable housing. Like paid off in full in 10 years or less.

I also think lots of people will be surprised by what's coming. We have built up a tolerance or immunity to bad news recently.

What is actually happening now and what that portrays for the future is sending a signal most are not receiving. Those bidding on the few REOs the banks are letting on the market are going to be the most "surprised".

I'm with paramount. Whenever we are made aware of several facts, we should ignore the ones that don't support our opinion.

Oh, so you know they are facts? Do you believe everything you read?

No, nobody with a speck of a clue believes much of anything they read anymore because there are so many loser wingnuts on every message board that write so much nonsense that no reasonable person could possibly have the time to read it all.

Y'all need to get a life.

I never said anything posted here was a fact. Did I quote any numbers?

You quoted one of the "facts" to three digits of precision. And used it to support an opinion.

Do you believe half of what you read? Who tells you which half to choose?

But you are wise to only believe the facts that support your view of the world. Life is much more comfortable that way.

Paramount: You just said something negative about an American!

You sicken me with your denigrating remarks about an American. Your damn lucky to be one.

You put down an American and you put down all Americans as far as I'm concerned.