1) Buried at the end of this article on the drop in house prices is a very important point:
Many sellers in some parts of the country seem to be cutting prices more aggressively. While sales of existing homes notched a surprise increase in February after falling for six straight months, the median price fell, according to data Monday from the National Association of Realtors.
The trade group said sales rose 2.9 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.03 million units — the biggest increase in a year. But the median existing sales price in February fell to $195,900, the largest year-over-year drop on records that go back to 1999.
So, prices are going down, but sales are up? Hmmm, that's pretty interesting, but the vast majority of the article explains how home prices going down is terrible, even though sales are up. If only I had an adequate economic model or theory that could project what happens when you have excess supply and low demand.
2) Good thing we passed Prop. 1A a few years ago. Apparently, the state is already looking at way to get at the large amount of money coming in from the gas taxes. The sales tax on gasoline raised $3.8 billion last year, money that is supposed to go solely to transportation and transportation-related infrastructure projects. Needless to say, that's a tidy sum that could be used to pay for various social policies at the expense of needed transportation upgrades, upgrades that only increase every year they are delayed and risk the overall economy of the state.
3) I do not consider today's game in Japan as opening day, but, if you drafted Huston Street, you're already at a disadvantage.
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