8.9% unemployment is an ugly to be sure. Unemployment is personal though; you remember the old story about when your neighbor loses his job it is a recession, if you lose yours it is a depression.
Not to make light of this, since I still have a semblance of a job, but the rate of job losses is shifting to the positive side. All recessions end but the process of change does not begin until the bottom is hit. The question to ask is not when we reach the nadir but how long will it take until there is a sense of recovery in the air.
I suspect we are seeing some healthy signs in San Diego real estate already. The market in Mission Hills has not resembled a bloodbath but more a solid block of ice. Things are thawing a bit but I would not order the Porsche just yet. The good news is this economy has turned the corner.
I just listed a very interesting home in Mission Hills at 1995 Guy Street owned by the late Richard Saliba. The seller owned the home for sixty-five years. He had an interesting past and there is some detail about him in the blog noted above.
Mr. Saliba flew B-29s over Japan, 30 missions to be exact. These 18 hour missions must have been both terrifying and boring or some combination of both. B-29s were only able to reach the Japanese mainland because Marines had landed on and taken the isalnd of Saipan. My own father, then a lowly enlisted Marine, took part in that invasion and in fact had a tent near the air strip.
I noted with sadness the passing of Jack Kemp. Let me say first that I disliked him in the 60s’ because his Buffalo Bills twice beat the Chargers in the AFL Championship games, he was one tough quarterback. The only time that I could have voted for him, in 1996, I voted for the other guy. After all, we were not in the same political party and in fact I have been a constant critic of supply-side economics, Mr. Kemp’s lifelong political passion and legacy.
Mr. Kemp was my kind of pol and my favorite kind of Republican. As a nation were are poorer as his presence, even out of politics, helped ground this country’s vitriolic politics. His style was so different than Bush-Rove; that failed presidency would have gone a lot further had they paid attention to how Mr. Kemp carried himself inside the beltway. My condolences to his family.
I had plenty of second thoughts about this venture. My teen would have killed me had I cancelled his trip to Sacramento for the State History Day competition. The teacher leading the school contingent has assured me she will be viligant in enforcing hand washing! Still as a parent you are always concerned when any child of yours gets on an airplane without you. As if you could make a difference if there was a problem. In this case, I could make a difference by pulling him from the competition. I always have to keep a handle on my fears. But that feeling goes a long way to explaining the crazyiness of being a parent. Just like Garp discovered, much to his dismay, there is no safety in an unsafe world. His quest for ensuring his children’s safety was a bootless errand at best.
