[Jazzman]

[quote=CA renter]What’s the city planning argument?[/quote]
It’s just a reference to the video posted that shows alternative means of transportation ie more walker-friendly. While any exercise is good, 20 minutes on a treadmill only burns off an apple. For exercise alone to be effective in weight management, you need to workout hard for at least 2 hours everyday.

[Jazzman]

I ended up in hospital for an operation due to household mold. It can lead to chronic infections and a lot of discomfort. Your friend must let her landlord know immediately and be prepared to be rehoused while remedial work is being done. It can be a big operation. I believe there is legislation in CA concerning mold, which may be worth googling before confronting the landlord.

[Jazzman]

OCR is right about the food industry. There is so much evidence of this. I’m not convinced by the city planning argument. It plays a role but is not as significant as other factors.

[Jazzman]

It sounds like you have been going through some horrendous medical treatment. Sympathies.

There is no proven, long lasting, or permanent method for weight loss. You can lose a lot of weight quickly, but it will creep back. The reason for this is simply biological. We live in times of abundance, so we horde and store for meager times. The best approaches are one’s that involve life changes, which require a disciplined, self-education process. I’ve been impressed by research going on in CA by various doctors and universities. Bill Clinton followed a regime that reduced all fats and oils. Diets that are preventative-based offer a great incentive; diet or suffer the consequences. There’s also been some research at one of the CA Uni’s into mimicking fasting. It involves a five day fast (diet) each month of camomile tea and vegetable broth. Fasting kick starts the immune system which is a very powerful healer with no side effects. Of course, you will also lose weight effectively.

The first muscle that needs to be woken up is the “will”. You could try hypnosis to see if your subconscious will help out when the conscious mind tires or lapses.

The next step is shop around the edges of a supermarket. Put the center shelves off limits. Only ever eat grains, pulses, fruit, veg, beans, soya, white meat, fish. Delete butter, cheese, prepacked foods, sweet things, red meats, oils, fats. Eat whole (wheat) meal bread and pastas only. Brown rice only. Do not drink fruit juices. Dried fruit for sweet snacking. If you have a Wholefoods nearby, go eat in the food bar. If you ate there every lunch you would lose weight. When you fill you plate, pretend it is a color palate. Fill it will as much color as you can. Avoid the stodgy, mayo-laden, cheesy pastas etc. Eventually, you will develop a taste for vegetable and they will wean you off junk foods. Your palate will change and your bodily functions will thank you.

Exercise everyday. Walk, cycle, weights, pilates, tennis, gardening, DIY. Avoid doing too much repetitiveness. It will wear down the will. Make it enjoyable and fun. Sports and recreational is best. Build up gradually if your body is not used to it.

There is no quick fix. There is only a life long battle. Sometimes you lose, sometimes you win. The secret is to never give up so you are in win mode for the most part.

[Jazzman]

Not so sure about the Trump endorsement, but I get what he’s saying: An Washington outsider can speak freely which is good. The comparison of “high yield bonds” with mortgage backed securities is interesting. If his predictions are right and things do come tumbling down again, there will be blood on the streets this time.

[Jazzman]

[quote=FlyerInHi]

Back to immigration, it the unauthorized immigrants already here are going to be legalized eventually, then why not do it now and skip the human suffering? Why tie people’s fates to ideology?[/quote]
Well, I think we are all, in one respect or anther, tied to ideology. Legalizing illegal immigrants is going to rile so many who believe it is wrong. The debate is a hard one to defend on either side and will probably boil down to what is practical rather than what is right. If the solution is to evolve that may take time.

[Jazzman]

[quote=deadzone]Can you name a single developed country with open borders in terms of immigration policy?[/quote]
Europe has open borders. EU members can now travel between many sovereign nations without a passport and have the right to live, work and receive welfare in those countries. There are restrictions imposed at the local level. You find many young eastern Europeans working in western Europe. They are enthusiastic and willing to take jobs often the reserve of previous immigrant waves, who themselves should move up a rung.

The migration flow is two way. Those seeking a lower cost retirement migrate eastwards. In theory, Europe should eventually be the melting pot that is America. In historical terms, it is already a melting pot. There is a downside. Locals will become embittered by what they see as an invasion, displacing locals in the job market and exploiting welfare. Criminals can also move more freely.

I see no reason why borders could not open in the US with its neighbors, if there is a common interest and mutual benefit. Economic disparity may rule that out for the time being, but both Mexico and Canada are doing well. I’d think Mexico could be a fantastic place to retire.

[Jazzman]

[quote=spdrun][quote=CA renter]I’ve had Mexican-American friends tell me that the Mexicans were going to “take back” their territory in a bloodless war, simply by out-populating the white Americans. [/quote]

Think about what you’re saying.

Real question is, so what if they do and the US west ends up majority Mexican/Latino? How does that affect you? I don’t think that anyone is seriously proposing that Upper California should rejoin Mexico — most immigrants come here to escape bad political conditions down there.

Also, intermarriage tends to be more common among children of Latino immigrants, so we might end up with a “Californian” identity rather than a “Mexican” one in 100 years.

In short, who cares, unless you have some outdated notions of ethnic purity?

And this is an AWESOME trend. One out of five Californians now marries outside their race…
http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/interracial-marriages-u-s-hit-all-time-high-4-8-million-article-1.1023643%5B/quote%5D
I have never understood this argument. California was part of Mexico which was a Spanish colony, and was only part of an independent Mexico for about forty years. Interestingly, DNA shows indigenous peoples on the north American continent came from the same place as Europeans. The Asian migration and subsequent influence came later. We all much more related that we realize.

[Jazzman]

[quote=spdrun]Question is, if we had truly open borders worldwide, would that be such a bad thing? Everyone would have the choice of what sort of government they’d want to live under. It would make tyranny and bad government a lot harder to enforce.

Open borders and globalism should be long-term ideals, since no one should be stuck because they had the misfortune to be born in one region of the world or another.[/quote]
Easy to wish for…

[Jazzman]

[quote=njtosd][quote=spdrun]This string became political long ago — is discussing politics here a capital offense? I think that if it were, half of the people on here would have faced a firing squad years ago.[/quote]

This thread was titled aging population and housing. When I look at the posts, I would expect the posts to relate to the topic.

In terms of politics-I believe liberal/conservative orientation is largely inborn. All the discussion in the world isn’t going to change many peoples minds. In fact Democrats and Republicans prefer the body odor of others who share their political viewpoints. http://theweek.com/speedreads/446211/study-conservatives-liberals-smell-different
People are fooling themselves if they believe their witty or obnoxious comments are going to cause someone else to see the light.

You are free to write anything you want, but if I were you I’d ask Brian why he’s not call Brian anymore[/quote]

Actually, people do change political beliefs and I definitely think they are influenced more by environment than genes. If you want to influence someone’s thinking then don;t shout at them and tell them they are wrong. We have lost the ability to be impartial. It’s either my way of the highway, black or white, republican or democrat. In reality, most issues are shades of grey, but we’ve become egotistical, opinionated bigots and the media loves it.

[Jazzman]

[quote=deadzone]Perhaps only extremists are lobbying for literally open borders. However, all of this talk (mostly from liberals) about immigration “reform” is certainly implying an open border policy. As immigration “reform” really means amnesty.

Well if we as a society are going to say its okay for millions of people to enter the country illegally, break our immigration laws, work illegally (in many cases using fraudulent ID/SSN)and then get rewarded with green card and eventual citizenship, we are basically saying that our existing borders and immigration laws mean nothing.[/quote]

I don’t think it’s that simple. They are here so what do you do with them? You’d need a pretty big ship. Then there’e the vote, cheap labor that so many benefit from, public outcry from forced repatriation, and potential humanitarian crisis across the border. The horse has bolted but I guess you can still close the barn door.

[Jazzman]

There’s carpet in the kitchen? You might want to pull that up. Tiles might be better option for the floor. I would have thought a hard wood floor might show wear in a kitchen.

[Jazzman]

[quote=hillsilly]Jazzman, I wonder if we were bidding against each other! We bought a fixer and couldn’t decide if we were the luckiest or stupidest buyers in town. Four years on, the appreciation on our street has been unreal.[/quote]

Maybe, although we found that only exceptional homes attracted more than one bid, and if there was any competition at all we walked because prices still felt over-valued. It was a sucker’s market in our view, and more than one Realtor agreed with us.

We’ve also seen massive appreciation in Maui, but I don’t consider that a good thing. I can’t access that increased wealth unless I sell. The fairly recent sharp appreciation in values has been at the same velocity that led to the last bubble. That can only mean one thing.

Unless you are buying RE purely as an investment, these boom bust cycles are bad news. You should not have to time the market to buy your home because it breaks the flow of everything else; education, careers, family making, community, retirement, pension planning, savings. We’ve also seen first hand the devastation that a housing crash can unleash on everything from share values, credit availability, GDP growth, unemployment.

There’s cause, effect and then there’s unwitting collaboration in the shape of unrealizable wealth dazzling the masses with promises designed to be broken. The problem started with the ‘big bang’ and the deregulation of markets, and monetary(ist) policy steeped in the traditions of efficient markets, which we now know to be a fallacy. Stock markets don’t ‘rule’, and neither does monetary easing, or so it would seem. IMHO.

[Jazzman]

Very funny. My wife and I spent two years living and searching for a home in Santa Barbara. It’s as far south as I would live in CA. A nice town with neo colonial Spanish architecture. As a town it hangs together better than any community in soCal. Trouble is all the newbie riche think so too. We searched at the bottom of the crash, but inventory was very tight even then. Anything remotely nice sold quickly. Being a small community with huge RE price tags, it was pretty much a rigged game there. We left considering it poor value and little choice like much of CA. Inventory there has since become tighter and prices have skyrocketed. You’d need your head examined to live there unless you’re rich enough to buy in Hope Ranch or Montecito. +$1m for a crapshack as Dr HB would say.

[Jazzman]

Long term investment growth? Prices are high everywhere so they may decrease. You could try auctions and rehabs, but deals are pretty hard to come by. An option is to search out of state where values are lower and therefore rent yields higher. Price appreciation may be lower but the rent will cover most, if not all costs. You won’t get income, but your equity will build up over time. You will need a good property manager who are worth their weight in gold.

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