Today The New York Times and USA Today both ran stories above the fold about the decline in American home ownership. You have to appreciate the irony of these cultural touch points working on the same story. The real issue, of course, is the net impact of this trend on the social and economic fabric of America.
Europeans, and dwellers in old cities in this country, are used to the renting lifestyle. Economics play a huge role in these pricy markets becuase of restrictions on supply. More importantly, renters in those places are given many more rights than they have in newer sub-cultures, such as the American West.
This may change once it becomes acceptable, economically and socially, to rent for your lifetime. Most of us were brought up with the ideal of home ownership as a desirable goal. Many are now questioning the efficacy of owning.
In pre-recession days, the easiest way to accumulate wealth has been owning a home. My parents were perennial renters, owing partially to being a Marine family and living like gypsies, and never saved that much but had a very modest estate from their home. With little or no appreciation forecast, it appears that traditional model of wealth building is irrelevant. You could argue that equity can still be created because eventually the mortgage gets paid off. This may still be the case going forward and more and more consumers are paying down debt and shunning the grand temptress, the home equity line of credit. The latter, in my view,is the real villain behind the housing bubble. Perhaps there would be less social cost to this change than forecast because of less economic stress on the population. Not all that bad.
On Memorial Day I like to post a few words about a friend of mine who died in the Vietnam War. The purpose of this holiday is to remember the war dead. I fear there may not be people around to remember Earl. His parents are surely gone andhe had no siblings. Someone should remember him other than me on this weekend.
Earl and I shared a small suite in 1966 at The Basic School. He was slightly above average in intelligence, optimistic to a fault, sunny of disposition and fully committed to being a Marine infantry officer. Of the four freshly-minted 2nd lieutenants sharing the suite, Earl was the most gung-ho and was eagerly looking forward to his upcoming assignment to Vietnam. The rest of us were not all that enthusiastic about that prospect, but it delighted him.
I can remember the exact moment getting the call from his girl friend, a senior at Mary Washington College. No details were forthcoming or even known. I did the math and figured he lasted less than a week over there.
Somehow or another many months later I ran into some staff sergeant outside of Da Nang who was in Earl’s unit and told me the story. Running up a stream bed to join his new platoon during Operation Tuscaloosa, Earl took a bullet in the neck. Later I found out the incident is in a book about that Operation but I heard it from a near-eye witness. His death was so Earl, eagerly wanting to get to his platoon. Maybe his enthusiasm got the better of him but it was probably dumb luck to run into some teenager with a loaded AK-47. Many combat deaths are just that; wrong place wrong time.
The hardest thing to deal with is knowing he was an only child. As a parent of two boys, I wonder how the rest of their lives played out without their son. They are casualties of the war and I can only assume they became walking wounded. I fared much better, shedding my fear of the dark in a couple years, they had to live with their emptiness forever.
I wish I could have reached out to them a few years ago, but it was not something I thought of doing. If I had, I would have told him nothing but good about the child they raised. I would have told them how much I loved his company and how lucky I was to have shared such a small space with him for five months. I am sure they would have liked to have heard about his high standard of personal integrity and courage. Nothing I could say or do would change anything. I wish I could have told them they were such fine parents.
Although I said goodbye to him in late November of 1966, I regret that I cannot sit down and visit with him. Some friends you really miss.
I guess the Serbs realized it was time to cough up their most famous resident war criminal. This wannabe-Nazi was hiding in plain sight assumed the cloak of Serb ultra-nationalism would protect him. In the end, membership in the European community meant more to Serbian rules than protecting a political has-been. The parallels with the recently eliminated, and now crab-bait, terrorist are unmistakable. The lesson is that fervent causes have a short shelf life without political power. Both of these guys ran out usefulness and in fact became liabilities. The net result is evident.
Mr. Daniels has now formally dropped out of the race for the right to challenge the President next year. Citing family priorities, Mr. Daniels has sent a huge message to our political culture: it is hardly worth it!
Not to be a complainer about the younger generation, but clearly our OCD-level fascination with celebrity has brought about some unintended consequences. The 24-hour scrutiny of your life(as well as anyone else who has ever known you) must be weighed off against the incredible privilege of being the President of the United States. But the price to get there, your family subjected to intense and often unwarranted scrutiny, a two to four year campaign of millions of sweaty handshakes and thousands of chicken dinners, makes the process a bit gruesome. Now add in groveling for money and selling future influence in order to pay for the tsunami of television ads….well you get the point.
I am a Democrat but I have been an admirer of Mr. Daniels and think he has the stuff to be a decent President. I see a lot of Dwight Eisenhower in him, although I believe he does not have the potential match Ike. After George Bush, if he even got close all of us would be the better for it.
In the end, he probably made the right choice, the very Midwest-sensibility of the man sent him down a saner road. No one is to blame but us.
The Israeli prime minister made a persuasive and effective speech to a joint session of Congress today. I was struck by his powerful narrative and of his review of the complex and special relationship with this country. I blogged earlier about Mr. Obama’s complaints about the glacial pace of negotiations regarding the Palestinian situation. The speech today was Bibi’s rejoinder. And it was a good one, he did not flinch from the President’s key demand regarding the 1967 borders.
I guess in the end no amount of jawboning by the President is going to resolve the question. I sense, after hearing both leaders address the issue, that I must agree with many observers that perhaps the problem is Hamas, or by extension, Iran. If I take the Prime Minister at his word, he just needs to have the Palestinians say uncle and all will be resolved over some difficult negotiations.
It seems a small demand although fraught with symbolic importance. I fail to see how Hamas and their Iranian sponsors actually think they can remove Israel from the map. But political delusion seems to be endemic there anyway, so perhaps I should not be so surprised. I think both sides are ready to make concessions that were inconceivable a few years ago. It will only succeed if all sides recognize the reality on the ground-no one or no group is going to disappear.
It is about time an American president spoke plainly about the mess in the Middle East. I too am frustrated by the seemingly endless dialog between the sides without any real progress. That is all well and good, the problem is we are picking up the tab. Grandma has to take her shoes off to get on an airplane and will continue to do so until someone solves this problem.
I am not sure exactly what motivates a person to don a vest packed with C-4 and ball bearings and walk into a public space and detonate himself. I do not claim to understand the subtle nuances of the two sides, I only know the cost to our country.
What comes from the speech is any one’s guess. We are not a country who makes hard choices and I suspect there are so many counter-vailing powers involved in this issue that nothing of substance will materialize. Perhaps we can all talk the problem to death.
The San Diego Unionran several stories over the past week about broad social and economic changes in the rate of home ownership. San Diego’s numbers are down from 56% to 55%. In terms of the housing market, this means next to nothing . What the study shows is that too many people bought homes during the past decade that should not have.
The previous Administration actively promoted home ownership as a way to build communities and improve America. Loose money policies collided with an obliging Federal government. You know the rest of the story; we are still cleaning up the mess.
Wealthier communities have lower rates of home ownership. In this sense, the coastal enclaves more resemble European cities where there is a permanent renter class. Homes are not commodities to flip but assets held long term, like Aunt Betty’s silver set.
This is not necessarily bad from an economic point of view. The net is full of analysis arguing that renting is as economically viable as owning. I will have to admit one can make a good argument to rent.
That is the latest from Zillow. Home ownership rates for San Diego real estate have declined slightly to around 55%. The rate is about 11% less than the national average, but that is typical for high-priced neighborhoods. The Bush Administration touted the value of high rates of home ownership and perhaps that was one reason they let the banks turn two blind eyes to loan applicants. I suspect that rationale was a red herring meant to throw us off of the real reason, higher bank profits.
Everyone has a different experience on this issue. I know which houses, in my neighborhood, are rented and which are not. Does too many renters strain the social fabric. Probably not as some homeowners around me behave as is our houses sit on individual 40-acre plots. I think the neighborhood has far more leverage with renters when it comes to marginal behavior.
So it is now been six weeks since my 17-year old had his knee surgery for a torn ACL and menisci. The injury occurred during a high school soccer CIF playoff game. Our world, and his, got suddenly turned upside down.
Those in the know realize his rehab process is just starting. Tomorrow he loses one crutch but keeps the locked brace for a while. It has been a real process that is far from over. He has at least another six to eight months of physical therapy.
I figured he has played in about 350 competitive matches in high school and club soccer. He is a durable player who did not come out. I watched the DVD of the game and saw how the injury occurred; two boys running to a ball and their knees collided. No foul but much harm. Until then his participation in this sport gave me and his mother nothing but pure joy.
But the toughest part ahead for him is more mental than physical. Will he play his senior year? This team, which went to the State and CIF finals, has so much potential. Complicating matters is that he was just elected a team captain. In the great scope of life, this is not a huge decision, but at this stage of life it will be for him. Adults realize you are only in high school once and it is fleeting at that. But the risk of re-injury has got to play on his mind, I know it is on mine.
