Let me get this straight.....
Let's say as you suggest.....
quote..."I lived in north San Diego County in the late 90's and saw real estate escalate by 25% per year and waiting lists to get on the list to sign a purchase contract on a house to be built and all the buyer could choose was the floor plan and everything else was per the builders specs. Used houses were a bidding war with all selling above the listing price."

Are you suggesting that developers and speculators are the "good" guys and that those "evil stupid" people buying the property to live there are to blame for this bust that is happening now?

I'm happy I don't live in your neighborhood.

I wondered why this thread was so busy. I never visit this forum, but this kind of misinformation needs to be addressed before we look silly to visitors.

Every single "fact" in this post is incorrect, up to and including the very definition of fascism. Fuel is expensive and rising everywhere, not just in the U.S. where (apparently) "liberals" have some sort of conspiracy going on with it. There's no oil left in the U.S. to refine, so obviously no one is going to build a refinery ( world oil reserves ).

The only Federal program that mandates loans be made to low income people ( the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977) has been around for 30+ years and provides the funds to be loaned through independent tax free mortgage revenue bonds. The incredibly tiny fraction of the mortgage market that these loans represent couldn't do any damage if the whole thing went belly-up. The real causes of the mortgage crisis is well known, and have to do with predatory marketing (not any sort of governmental involvement).

There are a grand total of 33 offshore oil production facilities still running in CA waters despite a generations-long ban on further exploration, only one of which has had a major leak in 40 years. It killed at least 700 sea birds in 1997. However the risk of a major leak from any one of those facilities is predicted by the Bush Administration's USGS to be 41% (from facilities in in Federal waters) and 8% (from facilities in state waters) if no more are built. Oil and Gas Operations Offshore California: Status, Risks, and Safety (USGS, 2003)

However the main problem is that relative to U.S. oil demand, the tiny fraction of oil available offshore in CA and elsewhere in U.S. waters is an insignificant drop.

The oil is gone. We used it all up. Burn all you want in your hemis for now, it's just going to make the next tank harder to come by and more expensive (for all of us). Your kids will thank you.

Oh yeah, climate change has more PhD adherents than the theory of the atom at this point. If you want to think virtually all educated people on earth are wrong or evil, fine. You're not alone.

=================

We can responsibly enjoy our cars for decades, or we can burn out in an alcoholic-like blaze of glory and ruin it for our kids. It's up to us.

Thank you!

What's this Dave?

You're now saying that everyone on the flip side of this issue not in agreement with you "educated people" are ignorant?




Your first visit down here and you're trying to make friendly!


W.

There are no "flip sides" to facts, and that is friendly. Allowing our community to fall into a misinformed lot would be the least friendly thing an informed person could do. If you read my posts carefully on this and other threads they're simply a listing of facts. I rarely interpret them (although I admit the "your kids will thank you" line comes awfully close).

An informed person? There you go again. I can't understand how you don't consider that demeaning. This is not a political arena, where one can stand on their soapbox and browbeat the public. Most AACA Forum users are getting tired of it.





Dave, just the fact that you post them and then make references to them as the only view of the civilized world makes people/members upset. I've been trying to ignore these tirades of yours, but my skin is getting a little thin.

Let it be!

Wayne

If someone was explaining things to me I didn't have prior knowledge of I would not consider it demeaning. Perhaps new knowledge is a problem for some, especially if the result of it is an "upsetting" conclusion. I readily admit our situation as enthusiasts for an activity that's consuming a now severely limited resource is "upsetting". It's also reality, no matter how tired people are of it.

"Demeaning" also infers that there is little or no basis for the statements made. If you want to question them on that basis, by all means please do. I would love to find out that our situation is better than I've been informed. But my information comes from the most authoritative sources I can find in the "civilized world". There are nut case scenarios that you can find on any side of any issue, but in the final analysis the best authority on a given subject is not a hard thing to recognize. If there's better out there, I'd like to see it.

Finally, the post I responded to meets every definition of "tirade" I know. Mine can be interpreted as one if you want, but it clearly wasn't the first.

Meanwhile I'm going to be more concerned with our hobby's public image as it's reflected here. If we come off as a bunch of petulant, self-involved people with no focus outside our own little world, our interests will not be served by the community at large in the future. If you've read any of the material I've linked to this forum over the years, I think you know how important that's going to be. And soon.

I've said what I have to say, Dave.
I'm done with this !

Any other comments on this will be by private message!

Wayne

And now for something completely different.

Anybody know where to get replacement [o-ring] seals for my power steering pump [all seals including the monster sealing the reservoir]? Also, o-ring seals for the power steering gear on the steering column?

Car's a 383-powered 66 Newport. I'm it's second owner - er, caretaker - and I am working to repair and refurbish as best possible to preserve the car as an unrestored original.

Chris in NC NASCAR country