Comments by Santiago NYC

In Chicago, there are 2 trends that are bringing down the value of suburban homes. First, Gen Y doesn't want to drive 2 hours a day. They want to live in the city and will forego the yard and extra bedroom to have it. Second, things like globalization and "globally competitive wages" cause the rich to get richer, the middle class will be destroyed, and the poor stay poor. This again will cause the suburbs to lose value as the middle class disappears. My advice: if you want to buy, buy in an expensive neighborhood. If you can't afford that, keep renting. Anyway, in a few years Illinois will go bankrupt, so homes are very risky all around.

Any honest attempt to fix the US budget would never pass the House because it would (a) raise taxes on something and (b) put the economy in better shape prior to the presidential election. I'm sorry to say that the Republicans would destroy the economy if it helped unseat Obama. Their dogma and view that the current president must be thrown out at all costs has blinded them to everything else. When it comes to Washington (and Wall St.), you can never be too cynical.

I like how you refer to Illinois' tax increase as a "whopping 67%" rather than an increase from 3% (one of the lowest in the nation) to 5% (closer to the top, but nowhere near as high as what you pay in NYC). As much as I like to hate on Illinois, I'd be much more likely to leave an insolvent state that isn't doing anything as opposed to an insolvent state that's trying to dig its way out.

I know this might not be in line with the 'love' concept, but in the US we often require people to have tickets to gain admittance to events like this, especially for events that cater to young people. This isn't profit-driven; it's explicitly for crowd control. Regulators expect a certain number of rule-breakers, but this works fairly well to keep numbers where you want them even without much policing or barricading.

This is one benefit of a financial crisis: the states have to critically evaluate the costs and benefits of all of their programs. Before, anyone proposing this would have been ridden out of office. Fiscal prudence had no place when "our children's safety" was at issue. America will exit this recession a better place than when it started.

As soon as I heard about this I thought: “Christ, what stupid thing is the TSA going to make me do next time?” I’m supposed to go to L.A. in ten days. I figure I’ll just show up at the airport naked carrying a vial of Propofol so that I can knock myself out before the colonoscopy. I can't tell the TSA to go to hell and just get in my car (which I now do if the destination is anywhere within a 16 hour drive).

Honestly, I think the TSA is primarily concerned with the appearance of safety rather than safety itself. Equally aggravating is that somebody in Congress is putting his idealogy in front of national security. Anyone wonder why there is currently no TSA chief? Just ask Senator Jim DeMint. http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/12/29/demint-defends-blocking-...

Irrational optimism is certainly in the DNA of most Americans, since only the optimistic moved here. Despite what the haters say (e.g., every bad thing that happened in the world since WWII is the fault of the USA and our rose-tinted glasses), American optimism is easily a force of good for the world. It is interesting to see how this conflicts with reality, as I know many who have applied to hundreds of jobs with no success. However, it's better to be an optimist than be mired in despair and fatalism, which is where Americans think Europeans have been for the last 30 years.

When I was a kid, I was told my generation was messed up beyond repair because (as far as I could tell) we weren't as religious as our parents and we had sex before marriage. It was so bad we were labelled Generation X. But at least we could find work. In my experience, nothing damages a person's self-worth more than not being to find work. The generation coming of age into this recession will need serious help to become as confident as the ones prior to it. Otherwise, they may actually become the fatalistic, cynical, and depressed generation to which I supposedly belong. Gen R, perhaps?

I've lived in Cook County, Illinois, the Bronx, NY, and I currently live in Jersey City, NJ. I can say that the Hudson County Democrats are the most corrupt group out of all of them - candidates appear from nowhere and immediately have huge institutional support; people are career politicians with no prior professional experience; and the AG is a political appointee, so lotsa luck getting him to do political prosecutions. Only when the FBI gets involved does anything change, and all this will do is shift power to the Camden Couunty Dems, who are just as bad as the Hudson County ones.

The 6.7% increase in pending US sales in April, while correct, is misleading. For anyone whose home is underwater, there are 3 parties that have to agree to a sale: buyer, seller, and the bank that provided the loan. However, the pending sales figure only takes into account buyers and sellers who have agreed on a price. Banks then take a few months to respond, and they often veto the deal. Not that a random blog is particularly credible, but see: http://seattlebubble.com/blog/2009/05/31/nwmls-mark-any-accepted-offer-o...

It will be interesting to see how many of these pending sales actually close in the next few months. I think the definition of 'pending', which made sense in the past, needs to be amended to include bank consents, if they're necessary. Until then, home prices and actual sales are what we should look to, and they aren't looking good.

Let's see if I understand: the American arm of LBI goes into bankruptcy, and the creditors (horror of horrors) look to a guarantor that isn't in bankruptcy for payment? The US bankruptcy court then forbids these creditors, many of whom aren't based in the US, from seeking payment from the parent-guarantor, based in the Netherlands. (a) why should the court stay proceedings for an entity that isn't in bankruptcy? I know European bankruptcy law isn't favorable, but if you can't make your payments and can't work something out, you go into bankruptcy, regardless of the what happens after that. (b) what right does the SDNY have to do this? Does it really have the ability to stay proceedings in Europe?

I was impressed with the race, but sadly, the Chicago Democrat machine lives on, long after the other machines around the country have gone away.

And the issue isn't ketchup vs. mustard on hotdogs, it's ketchup vs. tomatoes.

To see just how strange Mr. Burris is: see http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/01/01/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry...

The Illinois legislature (controlled by Dems) contemplated revoking Blago's ability to fill the seat and calling a special election, but it scrubbed that once it looked like a Republican might win. Better to have a tainted Dem in the Senate than a Republican. Illinois, especially the area around Chicago, is the most corrupt area of the US right now.

A few other nits: the quote at the end of the 3rd paragraph should be "it's" with an apostrophe. Also, I guess I don't mind the colloquialism of "all hell broke loose," but that's more of a tabloid phrase.

Mr. Stevens of Alaska campaigned on the 'fact' that he had not been convicted of anything, using the logic that the judge must sign and file the guilty verdict before a conviction occurs. To most of us not versed in legal semantics, a conviction occurs when a jury hands down a guilty verdict, which happened pre-election. I bring this up because the Senate is unlikely to overturn the will of the people if they elect someone who has been convicted. However, if the conviction occurs post-election (which is what will likely happen, using Mr. Stevens' argument), the Senate will be much less hesitant to expel him.

Any way we can see the 'turnout' in these countries? I'd like to know how many people voted in various countries. And to echo kingofspain, no 3rd party candidate has a chance in this election. No one like Perot (1992) or Nader (2000) is being invited to debates or anything. I think everyone realizes that 3rd party candidates do more harm than good in presidential elections, by syphoning away votes from the candidate most like them. Only with runoff voting will 3rd parties gain traction.

Incorporating is totally banned in US by Model Rule of Professional Conduct 5.4. The idea is put a limitation on the ability of "a third party to direct or regulate the lawyer's professional judgment in rendering legal services to another." The ABA doesn't want lawyers to put the interests of the client behind the interests of shareholders, who might not understand the duties that lawyers have.

It'll be interesting to see how the US firms deal with UK-based firms that raise tons of money.

The West doesn't have to do much beyond cutting down on its oil consumption and doing everything it can to reduce Chinese and Indian consumption. That'll kick the legs right out from under the petrostates, which can grow without investing in the education of their peoples. Those countries will then realize that the only way forward is through education, and their masses will demand more power as they realize that the state depends on them rather than the earth. Low oil prices brought down the Soviets, and it can do so again.

There are also some ecological benefits to reducing the burning of fossil fuels, but try telling that to my TX-based parents.

Something tells me that when the actual event occurs, it will be less of a sensation that it is today. At that point, racial homogenization will make the idea of ethnicity even sillier than it is today.

For the more obsessive-compulsive types among us: http://www.freedomhouse.org/uploads/fop08/FOTP2008Tables.pdf has all the stats.

USA (#21) beats the UK (#25) by 1 point, a negligible difference. China's rank is 181, but something tells me Freedom House is hard to access there, so there won't be many discussions on the lack of freedom.

It took Dean months to convince his supporters to side with Kerry in 2004. As long as the Dems' primary is over by June, and as long as the loser isn't too sore, there likely won't be irreparable damage done. Either Dem nominee is likely to handliy defeat McCain, due to McCain's positions on health care and the economy. And the 'R' next to McCain's name on the ballot will likely turn off many. Bush may cost McCain, a very capable and deserving man, another presidential election, no matter where McCain goes now.

As an aside, it would be best to organize comments in chronological order, rather than reverse, and to post all comments, no matter how many, on one page. This will make it easier to follow running debates among commenters.