If not there, then where?

Apparently, it's not just Park Slope Brooklyn Realtors quaking in their boots over the housing bust.
The tragic yet predictable consequences of urban sprawl and a once cocky U.S. economy has infected the housing situation outside the U.S.

Now potential home buyers in bubble-bursted zones can confidently clutch their check books a little longer and wait for housing prices to plunge to their desired purchase price. It's especially import for first time home buyers to know that this news, although not great for the overall U.S. economy, affords them some leverage when it comes to dealing pushy real estate agents trying to get them to jump on unreasonable asking prices. What hard working person in the U.S. wants to be tied down to an unmanageable mortgage for 30+ years in this country? Or in Europe? Not me.

Who knows where this housing jig will end up? I'm inclined to believe that the future is looking bright for those who are planning to live out their golden years in the comfort of a tropical third world country.

As I read more and more about foreclosed homes in New York City the idea sounds less far-fetched.

In Other News...Hunger in Haiti

It's unfortunate that Haiti has made news in the U.S. again because of it's devastation.
The usual standard western media coverage applies: Brief, Sensationalized, then Forgotten.

The only time the "world", that being U.S. mainstream media, notices is when there are large death tolls, pictures of extreme violence and the opportunity for the poorest nation in the western hemisphere to appear to the world to be a hopeless cause. Of course, if Haiti were to be sitting on an endless supply of untapped oil, an expedient rescue effort towards economic reform would be priority #1 for the United States government.

The irony with Haiti is that the parts of Haiti that experience the most corruption and civil unrest are the densely populated are cities like the capital, Port-au-Prince. Whereas the countryside (like Northern Haiti--Cap Haitian), for the most part, are quite peaceful and one can truly appreciate Haiti for what it is--a tropical island rich in history, art and culture.