Author Archives: legallysociable

Hottest housing market: Israel

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Amidst housing troubles in many developed nations, an unlikely hot housing market has emerged in Israel:

Israel, despite perennial fears of war, has emerged as one of the hottest – and least likely – property markets in the world: Since real estate collapsed around the globe in 2008, at least one industry watchdog lists it as the fastest-rising property market on earth…

According to Global Property Guide, a trade magazine that monitors the housing market, Israeli housing prices in the second quarter of 2010 rose sixth-fastest in a ranking of 36 countries. Four of the top five, including Singapore and Latvia, were rebounding from sharp price drops. So looking at the past two years ended in June – the last period for which there is data – Israeli real estate clocks in at No. 1.

For Israel, where high-tech and science are booming businesses, the property price spike is the latest claim to fame. But it’s one officials aren’t boasting about, given ample evidence of how an imploding bubble can shatter decades of economic growth.

What is interesting to note is that Israeli officials are working to cool down the housing bubble so that their country doesn’t join other nations in experiencing a burst housing bubble. If their actions are any indication, might most developed countries now pursue policies that try to even out the housing market over time to avoid any possible issues with booms or busts? And if so, how effective can central governments be in attempting to control the housing market?

Illustration of suburban revenue troubles: Brookfield vs. the Brookfield Zoo

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A constant concern of many suburbs is the tax base: how can the community bring in businesses and land uses that will bring in more tax dollars? To do this, some communities may be willing to offer tax breaks to certain land uses. But with the recent economic crisis, some communities have had to rethink their approach.

The source of contention between the suburb of Brookfield and the Brookfield Zoo is how much the water is going to cost for the zoo. For a long time, the community has given the Zoo a break on water, presumably because the Zoo brings in revenue for the municipality. But now with a tighter budget, Brookfield says it needs to charge the zoo a higher rate and perhaps also add an amusement tax to zoo tickets. In cases like these, some businesses might threaten to move – though this may be particularly complicated for a large zoo.

When times are good, municipalities and businesses don’t have as much trouble working out deals. But when there is less money to go around, issues like these become more common.

Like Cubs fans wanted the reminder: seventh anniversay of Bartman incident

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Seven years ago today, the lives of Steve Bartman and the Chicago Cubs became inextricably linked. It was a sad night, one I remember vividly – in a span of mere minutes, the Cubs went from World Series hopefuls to unlovable losers.

But beyond the emotions (which apparently are still running high), it is interesting to see how this has entered the collective memory of Cubs fans and other sports fans. The media is playing a role:

But fair or not, Bartman’s legacy remains intact, perpetuated by the national media. Fox Sports aired a promo for the 2010 NLCS that featured a freeze-frame shot of Bartman going for the ball. ESPN had scheduled Academy Award winning filmmaker Alex Gibney’s documentary on Bartman for their “30-30” series to coincide with the start of the World Series.

But the film, entitled “Catching Hell,” was recently pushed back from Oct. 26 to some time in 2011 at the request of Gibney. No air date has been scheduled, an ESPN spokesman said.

In the narrative of Cubs fandom, Bartman has become an interesting figure, an innocent fan who became a scapegoat for the futility of a popular franchise. Why exactly do Cubs fans need or want a scapegoat? Why is Cubs management (the Ricketts) still even talking about the curse and wanting a manager who understand all of this backstory?

The narrative of sports is almost more important than the events or outcomes themselves.One important event can lead to a long-standing narrative of triumph or defeat. Particularly during the long baseball season, fans are consistently engaged with historical moments and what-ifs. To be a true fan means one truly has the ability to know the narrative and to fully buy into it as a story worth telling and retelling. And narratives between teams can be similar (though never exactly the same – the pain of Cleveland vs. the pain of Chicago Cubs fan is interesting to think about): Gibney is a Red Sox fan who became interested in the Bartman story because he saw similarities with what happened to Bill Buckner.

Even this Chicago Tribune article becomes part of the ritual: we must reconsider what Bartman means.

Many Americans not optimistic that their childrens’ lives will be better

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A recent Bloomberg poll asked Americans whether they felt the future would be better for their children. The results:

What optimism there is about the immediate future doesn’t carry over to the longer term. Pluralities of those polled say they’re not hopeful they will have enough money in retirement and expect they will have to keep working to make up the difference. More than 50 percent aren’t confident or are just somewhat confident their children will have better lives than they have.

This belief has been an important part of the American Dream for decades. American parents seem willing to sacrifice much for their children to help insure this. Americans are usually quite optimistic about the future and tend to believe American ingenuity and progress will lead the way.

A question I would like to ask on these surveys: would it be okay for your children to have the same quality of life as you have experienced? If not, why not?

(A note about the reporting: many numerical statistics from the survey are thrown out. However, there is little context. The author tries to throw in some commentary about how these statistics link up with what is going on in the country or with a few quotes but this doesn’t add much. Additionally, let’s break down the numbers a bit more: do they differ by gender, race, region, political party, etc.?)

Predicting the fastest growing American cities for the next 40 years

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Forbes has a new list of what they think will be the fastest growing cities in the United States in the next 40 years. Not surprisingly, the top 5 are all in the South and West. Perhaps surprisingly, these cities are “little big cities,” places that grown in the last few decades and are poised for new growth. Here are the top cities for growth: Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; Austin, Texas; Salt Lake City, Utah; San Antonio, Texas; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Forbes says they are using a different methodology to select these cities:

In developing this list we have focused on many criteria–affordability, ease of transport and doing business–that are often ignored on present and future “best places” lists. Yet ultimately it is these often mundane things, not grandiose projects or hyped revivals of small downtown districts, that drive talented people and companies to emerging places.

This methodology seems to emphasize “softer factors” like affordability and quality of life. I almost wish we could just fast forward forty years to see how accurate this is. What would others predict and what factors would they use?

But I can see some of the logic. These places offer some of the amenities of the big city and are vibrant places where things are happening. Couple this with affordable homes, some jobs, and less congestion and I could see how it is appealing. Additionally, 8 out of the top 10 are in the South and West – only Columbus, Ohio and Indianapolis, Indiana are outside these regions. It would make sense that the growing areas of the country are the places where these mid-sized cities are growing.

Determining the most valuable blogs

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The world before blogs may be difficult for many Internet users to remember. This list from 24/7 Wall Street lists the 25 most valuable blogs which was based on a number of factors including pageviews (as measured by multiple sources), revenue, and operating costs.

If you were looking for some insights into what is considered valuable on the Internet, take note that the top 10 are dominated by entertainment, news, and technology sites and the two news sites, the HuffingtonPost and the DrudgeReport, dabble in both news and entertainment.

An agent tells his story of paying college football players

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Former agent Josh Luchs talks to Sports Illustrated about paying college football players in the hopes that they would select him as their agent.

How many other stories like this are out there to be told? Are Division 1 college football and basketball, with all their various scandals (Reggie Bush being the latest major example), just a complete cesspool? And then the next question: how much do college and universities know about this and try to seriously deal with it?

Quick Review: Burma VJ

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The 2009 film Burma VJ provides an insider perspective of the troubles in Burma/Mynamar in 2008. A few thoughts about the film:

1. The movie is told from the perspective of a small group of video journalists. With some handicams (the sort of handheld camcorders you could buy for a few hundred dollars at Best Buy), these men were able to show the conditions in the country to the world, breaking the embargo on outside media put on by the military junta.

2. A quick overview of the story: when the government doubled gas prices in 2008, people responded in protest. When the Buddhist monks joined in, the protests gathered steam. As the people were gaining attention around the world, the military junta responded by arresting and beating up and killing at least one monk. The protests died out and once again, the people were left to suffer.

2a. I remember hearing about this on the news back in 2008 but sadly, I knew nothing of what had gone on.

3. One thing I have wondered about is the power of the Internet to do good. Does the Internet actually lead to better relationships between people, more knowledgeable citizens, and a more robust civil society? I am usually skeptical. But this film suggests good can come out of even a spotty Internet connection. The world’s major news networks were utterly dependent on these videojournalists. They were also able to depict the plight of the Burmese people with limited equipment and power. Although they were ultimately not successful in overthrowing the junta, they may have been close.

4. The Buddhist monks play a prominent role in this film. While the monks are not supposed to get involved in politics, they can react in defense of the oppressed people. When they join the people’s protests, the tide seems to turn against the government. This was a reminder of the ability of those with the moral high ground to produce change in society.

This was an interesting film that exposed both the plight of the Burmese people and the effect a small group of dedicated video journalists can have in a desperate situation.

Google measures inflation by looking at web data

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Once again drawing upon its access to  information, Google suggests it developing an alternative measure of inflation:

Google is using its vast database of web shopping data to construct the ‘Google Price Index’ – a daily measure of inflation that could one day provide an alternative to official statistics.

The work by Google’s chief economist, Hal Varian, highlights how economic data can be gathered far more rapidly using online sources. The official Consumer Price Index data are collected by hand from shops, and only published monthly with a time lag of several weeks…

The GPI shows a “pretty good correlation” with the CPI for goods such as cameras and watches that are often sold on the web, but less so for others, such as car parts, that are infrequently traded online.

This bears watching as Google can access data and then analyze/summarize it at a much quicker speed than the government. But it will be interesting to see how Google gets around the issue of what is being sold online – the story also notes that Google’s index downplays the role of housing.

This could play out in a number of ways. Could this online index be improved so that markets were responding to Google’s data rather than the government’s data? Let’s say the government decides it likes Google’s approach. Does it develop the same or a similar algorithm within the government? Does it contract the task to Google?

The ever-expanding trolley problem

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For those who study moral dilemmas, the trolley problem is a common hypothetical situation. But the trolley problem keeps expanding to gather more information on how we make choices in such situations: the trolley problem can now include a spur track or a Lazy Susan.

Additionally, there is an interesting discussion about the value of “trolleyology.”