Somewhat thankfully New York has been spared from much of falling home prices that have been affecting other parts of the nation. The value of our apartment has been flat for 2-3 years now, which is much better than the 30%/year declines in other places. With the crisis on Wall Street, who knows how long that will continue, but it’s shocking to see videos like the one below about how bad things have gotten in California…

What’s amazing is how much of people’s lives are being thrown in landfills – how they walk away from just about everything – even huge flat screen TVs. It’s sad that the charities don’t have their act together to take advantage of the opportunity and fill their warehouses with the household goods and clothing that people are going to start to need in an economy like this.

The country desperately needs a change in leadership. Let’s hope the leaders we elect in a month are up to the task.