BBC Video: Tent Cities in California

[quote]Headhunter wrote:
I like numbers. Numbers cannot prevericate or lie.

[/quote]

“There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.”

  • Benjamin Disraeli

[quote]GDollars37 wrote:
Headhunter wrote:
I like numbers. Numbers cannot prevericate or lie.

“There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.”

  • Benjamin Disraeli[/quote]

Inferring from a small sample to a larger population is always subject to manipulation. And it is not the numbers that lie but rather the people abusing them.

The charts above are simple sum charts. True, the legend and the scale can be manipulated to make a graph appear differently to the innumerate. I don’t think that happened here.

[quote]Headhunter wrote:
GDollars37 wrote:
Headhunter wrote:
I like numbers. Numbers cannot prevericate or lie.

“There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.”

  • Benjamin Disraeli

Inferring from a small sample to a larger population is always subject to manipulation. And it is not the numbers that lie but rather the people abusing them.

The charts above are simple sum charts. True, the legend and the scale can be manipulated to make a graph appear differently to the innumerate. I don’t think that happened here.

[/quote]

Of course it did. You are trying to make big historical comparisons but you have a graph based on 12 years. I would love to see the graph for a much longer time span.

[quote]jre67t wrote:
But hey they are grown ups and knew they could not afford that quarter of a million house with a 36k income.[/quote]

That’s exactly why I left California and moved to Milwaukee.

On a side note. I had a recent trip to LA and from an old firend’s place we could see one of these tent cities under a mix-master freeway area near dodger stadium. I asked him about it and (being a photojournalist among other things) said that they went down there. After I looked at his pics I got curious and wanted to see first hand. Let me just say that it is a sad situation indeed and while I didn’t stop and interview everybody down there, there seemed to be a mix of down on their luck types and just fucked up people (think Mad Max types).

I agree that many got themselves into this mess but all I know is I’d rather be spending my tax money helping Americans than foreigners right now.

[quote]storey420 wrote:
On a side note. I had a recent trip to LA and from an old firend’s place we could see one of these tent cities under a mix-master freeway area near dodger stadium. I asked him about it and (being a photojournalist among other things) said that they went down there. After I looked at his pics I got curious and wanted to see first hand. Let me just say that it is a sad situation indeed and while I didn’t stop and interview everybody down there, there seemed to be a mix of down on their luck types and just fucked up people (think Mad Max types).

I agree that many got themselves into this mess but all I know is I’d rather be spending my tax money helping Americans than foreigners right now.[/quote]

How many were American and how many were from south of the border? Of course it is hard to tell hispanic American citizens from Mexican citizens based on appearance alone so perhaps my question is bogus.

[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
How many were American and how many were from south of the border? Of course it is hard to tell hispanic American citizens from Mexican citizens based on appearance alone so perhaps my question is bogus. [/quote]

Illegals either rent or live with their legal family members who own something they can afford to live in. New immigrants are probably better off than the average established citizen as long as they have work that isn’t affected by recession – farm labor, etc.

[quote]Headhunter wrote:
Green-span Acres[/quote]

lol

[quote]LIFTICVSMAXIMVS wrote:
Zap Branigan wrote:
How many were American and how many were from south of the border? Of course it is hard to tell hispanic American citizens from Mexican citizens based on appearance alone so perhaps my question is bogus.

Illegals either rent or live with their legal family members who own something they can afford to live in. New immigrants are probably better off than the average established citizen as long as they have work that isn’t affected by recession – farm labor, etc.[/quote]

I imagine a tent city would work for them too.

[quote]Headhunter wrote:
I like numbers. Numbers cannot prevericate or lie.

[/quote]

…There are only three kinds of lies.

Lies, damned lies, and statistics.

[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
LIFTICVSMAXIMVS wrote:
Zap Branigan wrote:
How many were American and how many were from south of the border? Of course it is hard to tell hispanic American citizens from Mexican citizens based on appearance alone so perhaps my question is bogus.

Illegals either rent or live with their legal family members who own something they can afford to live in. New immigrants are probably better off than the average established citizen as long as they have work that isn’t affected by recession – farm labor, etc.

I imagine a tent city would work for them too.[/quote]

ZING!

Intensity in Tent Cities.

[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
Intensity in Tent Cities.[/quote]

Nice pun.

[quote]Beowolf wrote:
Headhunter wrote:
I like numbers. Numbers cannot prevericate or lie.

…There are only three kinds of lies.

Lies, damned lies, and statistics.[/quote]

There’s 10 kinds of people in the world. Those that understand binary and those that don’t.

[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
Headhunter wrote:
GDollars37 wrote:
Headhunter wrote:
I like numbers. Numbers cannot prevericate or lie.

“There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.”

  • Benjamin Disraeli

Inferring from a small sample to a larger population is always subject to manipulation. And it is not the numbers that lie but rather the people abusing them.

The charts above are simple sum charts. True, the legend and the scale can be manipulated to make a graph appear differently to the innumerate. I don’t think that happened here.

Of course it did. You are trying to make big historical comparisons but you have a graph based on 12 years. I would love to see the graph for a much longer time span.[/quote]

The graph didn’t ‘lie’. It showed prices going from 180k to 600k in 12 years. That’s a bubble.

If it were false, that would mean that Cali RE had been as high or higher than the 600k mark. Do you truly believe that the median home in Cali prior to 1995 was over 600k?
In real terms, that means the median price was over a mill in today’s dollars.

Anyway, for fun, I will do some hunting, cause you’re a good guy, Zap.

Here’s the U.S. bubble. Still looking for Cali.

[quote]Headhunter wrote:
Here’s the U.S. bubble. Still looking for Cali.[/quote]

Crazy spike. Part of that is the houses built today are much bigger than houses built 20 years ago. Part of it is the bubble. I wonder how far it will drop before it settles out.

Bob Hole called.

He’d like us to stop blaming him for the housing crisis.

[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
Crazy spike. Part of that is the houses built today are much bigger than houses built 20 years ago. Part of it is the bubble. I wonder how far it will drop before it settles out.[/quote]

You make a good point there. I overheard a couple professors at the cafeteria at school a few weeks ago talking about this, and they say that the emphasis on homebuilders for at least the past decade is to build big assed supersized homes, instead of more modest ones. And they wonder why they can’t sell them all!

[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:

How many were American and how many were from south of the border? Of course it is hard to tell hispanic American citizens from Mexican citizens based on appearance alone so perhaps my question is bogus. [/quote]

No its a good question but like you said it is hard to answer with accuracy but let’s just say I was expecting little Tijuana and it was a whole lot more white and black folks.