The Envy of Peter Robinson
I am well aware that envy is one of the deadly sins. I am also aware that those who reside in the land of my birth -- California -- pay a heckuva price for it in terms of insane regulation and even more insane politics. There my sympathies end. In New Jerseystan, where I live, we have more or less the same problems California does scaled down for our population, and of course we have a better governor.
Here's one difference. On Sunday night I had dinner with the Robinsons at their home on the Stanford campus. The beautiful Mrs. Robinson asked me if I should like lemon with my sparkling water. When I answered in the affirmative, she sent her son out to their garden in the back to pick one from their tree.
Generally I am not a man who covets my neighbor's anything. That lemon tree, however, really did it.
Yes, it's just an anecdote. You wonder, tho: all this talk about California's collapse, how bad can it really be? It doesn't look bad, and I've been driving all over the state the last few days. Granted I do not see the difficulty a business has in dealing with some crazy environmental restriction, and I've been mostly along the coast, the more prosperous parts. And I don't want to be George Bernard Shaw in the Ukraine, suggesting there could be no famine because he was certainly well fed.
Still, there's nothing about what you see that suggests a place facing truly dire straits, unlike, say, Michigan or even New York which can look very run down, especially in its infrastructure. How can this be -- the huge gap between what the numbers tell us and with the very pleasant appearance?
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Comments:
Sep '10
Re: The Envy of Peter Robinson
The absence of winter?
Jun '10
Re: The Envy of Peter Robinson
Coastline, especially nice warm coastline, covers a multitude of sins.
Greece is a financial basket case, but it will always look great.
Edited on February 21, 2012 at 9:32pmMay '10
Re: The Envy of Peter Robinson
The guy in the McMansion down the street cruising into his fourth garage stall in the Lincoln navigator also looks great the day before the repo man gets there....
Jan '12
Re: The Envy of Peter Robinson
My guess is that the elites of California know how to take care of their own. Almost all of Marin County, where I live but only because of an inheritance, still looks like paradise. Even the potholes are quickly filled. What's the secret? Policies one step away from no growth contribute, but perhaps it's because Barbara Boxer resides here on the Palatine when she isn't haunting the Senate chambers. Mustn't give oh-so-sensitive Babs anything to ruin the view, you know.
The Stanford area abuts another such height. Go visit VDH on his farm, however, and you will get quite a different scene.
Edited on February 21, 2012 at 9:43pmMay '10
Re: The Envy of Peter Robinson
Maybe you should visit Victor Davis Hanson in Selma before you draw any final conclusions.
Re: The Envy of Peter Robinson
Lemon tree, very pretty/And the lemon flower is sweet/But the fruit of the poor lemon/Is impossible to eat.
Jun '10
Re: The Envy of Peter Robinson
Now there's something I could never have predicted: Professor Rahe channeling Trini Lopez, and making an incisive observation while doing so.
Edited on February 21, 2012 at 9:48pmDec '10
Re: The Envy of Peter Robinson
Bill,
Check out VDH's posts on California. I think they will tell a very different story.
China along the coast is growing rapidly and bringing in many changes and advancements. However, inland the billion or so Chinese live much the same lives under a hideous tyranny. The brutality of the regime will come out yet. Troublemaker by Harry Wu is the book I have read on the subject. It's a little old but really hard hitting. I doubt that for the billion in the interior much has changed.
Regards,
Jim
Re: The Envy of Peter Robinson
Aptly said. The difficulty is that what we know is so at odds with what we see, feel, and experience.
Dec '11
Re: The Envy of Peter Robinson
It's names are legion:
Inductive Fallacy aka the Turkey Problem: Every day the turkey thinks the farmer loves him, until one day he is separated from his head.
Cliff risk: The risk that the last in a series of adverse developments will eliminate the residual value of what was recently considered secure. Until that point, all parties assume the situation will auto-correct and that the principal will be paid in full.
Mar '11
Re: The Envy of Peter Robinson
Bill's post reminds me of the heady days when I would pick from the lemon tree on my $450,000 Southern California property, on which I owed $245,000.
My home is now worth $175,000 and I can barely see the sun for the water overhead. Great lemons, though.
Edited on February 21, 2012 at 10:11pmRe: The Envy of Peter Robinson
Gus Marvinson: Bill's post reminds me of the heady days when I would pick from the lemon tree on my $450,000 Southern California property, on which I owed $245,000.
It is now worth $175,000 and I can barely see the sun for the water overhead. Great lemons, though. · 1 minute ago
Yikes. If it's any consolation, Gus, in my own finances I too have adhered rigidly to a buy-high-sell-low philosophy my entire life. Heck the one time I was living in the Far East they had their largest financial crisis.
Nov '11
Re: The Envy of Peter Robinson
I'd say that one of the problems with California is that so many people have the appearance of prosperity they've allowed themselves to be lulled into a sense of security: if California's government couldn't spend more than it took in the whole state would look very different, and perhaps the voters would behave differently.
As it is, I'm very much afraid states like California will beggar the rest of us to keep that appearance of prosperity up.
Mar '11
Re: The Envy of Peter Robinson
Bill McGurn
Gus Marvinson: Bill's post reminds me of the heady days when I would pick from the lemon tree on my $450,000 Southern California property, on which I owed $245,000.
It is now worth $175,000 and I can barely see the sun for the water overhead. Great lemons, though. · 1 minute ago
Yikes. If it's any consolation, Gus, in my own finances I too have adhered rigidly to a buy-high-sell-low philosophy my entire life. Heck the one time I was living in the Far East they had their largest financial crisis. · 0 minutes ago
Fortunately, my wife and I have the attitude that we bought a home to raise our family, not just to raise our investment portfolio.
But still...
Edited on February 21, 2012 at 10:21pmJun '10
Re: The Envy of Peter Robinson
There's very little talk of California's collapse among anyone I know. If our state is about to collapse, or already has, I'd say for the most part we are blissfully unaware of it.
May '11
Re: The Envy of Peter Robinson
I don't have a lemon tree....
Occupy Peter Robinson!
;-)
Jun '10
Re: The Envy of Peter Robinson
Bill McGurn
Yikes. If it's any consolation, Gus, in my own finances I too have adhered rigidly to a buy-high-sell-low philosophy my entire life. Heck the one time I was living in the Far East they had their largest financial crisis. · 18 minutes ago
Bill: I too have been one of the essential buy-high/sell-low market participants. Someone has to do it.
The problem is that in today's market, everyone is in a "buy-high" position.
Jun '10
Re: The Envy of Peter Robinson
tabula rasa
Bill: I too have been one of the essential buy-high/sell-low market participants. Someone has to do it.
The problem is that in today's market, everyone is in a "buy-high" position. · 22 minutes ago
That's why so far in my adult life in California I've stuck to a "rent-high" strategy...
Nov '10
Re: The Envy of Peter Robinson
ahh... the land of milk and honey. Yes, it is that. We have lived here for 20 years and do not miss the Toronto deep freeze of winter nor the oppressive heat and humidity of the summers (do miss fall though).
Property-wise we were pretty practical-wise. When prices reached >3X what we had originally paid for our home, we did resist the urge to trade-up. Still, with a 20-year perspective we are still above water LTV-wise so we are thankful. Retirement looms large in a couple of years. We'll see if its still the case then.
Edited on February 21, 2012 at 11:23pmJun '10
Re: The Envy of Peter Robinson
Arizonians have lemon trees in their back yards too.