Charles Blackmon Posted May 16 Share Posted May 16 On 5/11/2024 at 10:34 PM, Joe Bauer said: Last year, my wife and I went to see the Spielberg film " The Fabelmans. " This was on a weekday and we got in for the "senior" price. This was at our local cinema plex here in Monterey, California. Lots of screens. Lots of seats. Only maybe 8 to 10 people were in the audience for this weekday time playing film however. All of us retirement age. When the movie finished my wife and I walked out into the hallway leading to the lobby. Another leaving couple even older than us happened to walk next to us. The other fellow's wife had to use the hallway lady's room at the same time as mine and so they walked in together. That left her husband and I standing next to each other. This woman's husband was a very friendly type like myself...and of course we said something funny to each other about our ladies not being able to make it home without relieving themselves before even leaving the theater. It's a ritual for my wife. This fellow and I clicked instantly. In just four to five minutes we had asked what each of us did in our careers. I mentioned that I was a common laborer all my life. He said he worked in the aerospace industry in the Bay Area. Asking him in what capacity he hesitated and then said something like ... well...pretty important stuff. Can't really talk about it. I can't explain why...but I just blurted out ... "Hey, are UFO's real?" My juvenile off-the-wall question kind of stopped our conversation and at that same moment our ladies were coming out through the theater exit doors together where we were waiting for them. Still, before they could reach us, this person turned and said to me in response to my UFO question ... "Let me just say this - most of them are ours." We parted seconds later. FWIW. Whats Monterey like these days? I have fond memories of visiting the town in the summer of 2000. I had a contract job up in San Jose and a rental in Salinas. Rent for a 1 BR furnished was about $1500 back then which to a southerner was mind-boggling! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Coleman Posted May 16 Share Posted May 16 5 minutes ago, Charles Blackmon said: Whats Monterey like these days? I have fond memories of visiting the town in the summer of 2000. I had a contract job up in San Jose and a rental in Salinas. Rent for a 1 BR furnished was about $1500 back then which to a southerner was mind-boggling! Was there earlier this year, seeing Deer in peoples suburban front gardens was a hoot. Nice seafront houses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Allison Posted May 18 Share Posted May 18 On 5/11/2024 at 9:34 PM, Joe Bauer said: He said he worked in the aerospace industry in the Bay Area. Asking him in what capacity he hesitated and then said something like ... well...pretty important stuff. Can't really talk about it. I can't explain why...but I just blurted out ... "Hey, are UFO's real?" My juvenile off-the-wall question kind of stopped our conversation and at that same moment our ladies were coming out through the theater exit doors together where we were waiting for them. Still, before they could reach us, this person turned and said to me in response to my UFO question ... "Let me just say this - most of them are ours." We parted seconds later. That nice fellow nearing the end of his life was kind enough to tell you the truth. You should consider yourself extremely fortunate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Bauer Posted May 18 Share Posted May 18 2 hours ago, Matt Allison said: That nice fellow nearing the end of his life was kind enough to tell you the truth. You should consider yourself extremely fortunate. "most of them." ??? So, leaving the question of the origins of the others open? What do you make of his " Most of them are ours." statement? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Bauer Posted May 18 Share Posted May 18 (edited) On 5/16/2024 at 9:08 AM, Sean Coleman said: Was there earlier this year, seeing Deer in peoples suburban front gardens was a hoot. Nice seafront houses Twice a week the deer wander into our yard. As it gets warmer maybe 3 to 4 days a week. They are extremely skittish. They don't walk up to you. They bound away if you get too close. We rent in a very forested area of the city. Never able to buy. Even when the homes were 15% of what they are now. Garages go for $500,000. Property taxes alone are 1% yearly. $10,000 a year for a million dollar home. 1 bedroom apartments are $2,400 to $2,800 ... or more! 2 bedroom ones are $2,800 to $3,300. Move in fees first and last and security deposit. We share our rent on a small old home. Been here since 1952. Bitter about the greedy rent and home prices...but what can you do? Up until the mid-eighties you could get an apartment for $500 a month! Since then, explosive rent insanity! Only rich people live here now...or a few month to month types hanging on like us. Edited May 18 by Joe Bauer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Allison Posted May 18 Share Posted May 18 22 minutes ago, Joe Bauer said: "most of them." ??? So, leaving the question of the origins of the others open? What do you make of his " Most of them are ours." statement? The Chinese have also developed some military aircraft that appear to do things we didn't think were possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Brancato Posted May 18 Author Share Posted May 18 9 hours ago, Joe Bauer said: Twice a week the deer wander into our yard. As it gets warmer maybe 3 to 4 days a week. They are extremely skittish. They don't walk up to you. They bound away if you get to close. We rent in a very forested area of the city. Never able to buy. Even when the homes were 15% of what they are now. Garages go for $500,000. Property taxes alone are 1% yearly. $10,000 a year for a million dollar home. 1 bedroom apartments are $2,400 to $2,800 ... or more! 2 bedroom ones are $2,800 to $3,300. Move in fees first and last and security deposit. We share our rent on a small old home. Been here since 1952. Bitter about the greedy rent and home prices...but what can you do? Up until the mid-eighties you could get an apartment for $500 a month! Since then, explosive rent insanity! Only rich people live here now...or a few month to month types hanging on like us. This pattern repeats in lots of communities, and not just in California. From what I can tell it’s a distinctly American problem. It’s partly fueled by groups of ‘investors’ buying up properties and either flipping them or turning them into rentals. The fact that there is no political will to stop this should tell you a lot about who’s in charge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Blackmon Posted May 18 Share Posted May 18 Greed notwithstanding, I hope its still as beautiful as always! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Bauer Posted May 18 Share Posted May 18 (edited) On 5/18/2024 at 6:25 AM, Paul Brancato said: This pattern repeats in lots of communities, and not just in California. From what I can tell it’s a distinctly American problem. It’s partly fueled by groups of ‘investors’ buying up properties and either flipping them or turning them into rentals. The fact that there is no political will to stop this should tell you a lot about who’s in charge. Exactly. Yet, you don't read complaining commentary about the cost of homes or rents here in our local newspapers. Or hear it on local radio or TV. The reason being that those who "can afford" to live here ( again with a very small minority of those who barely hang in ) are not unhappy or stressed about the surreally high cost of housing. They are happy about the fact their residences or rentals are worth so much. I'd say half the homeowners here inherited their properties from their parents who bought them when they were 1/10th what they are worth now. They feel lucky to have inherited these gold mines. The rest just have that much money on their own with many earning high incomes like doctors or other professionals. Heck police in our small 5,000 population city of Carmel By The Sea make up to $200,000 a year with benefits. Firefighters here make between $100,000 to $200,000 themselves with overtime. They can all retire starting at age 50 and their pensions are 90% of their last year's salary. Just sharing some facts as it tells you what it takes to live in this luxury area anymore. Of course Monterey and the surrounding area is still physically beautiful as always. There is a powerful lobby behind these astronomical real estate values. They are protective of their self-interests. As Paul mentioned, investor groups, home flippers, landlords, banks and mortgage lenders, property insurance companies. it's self-perpetuating for these groups. Even the government is involved. The County of Monterey LOVES these enormous valuations. It means unprecedented bucketfuls of money for them in property taxes. They don't ever want to see these drop. Edited to not get too sidetracked from the original thread topic. Edited May 20 by Joe Bauer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Blackmon Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 On 5/18/2024 at 12:31 PM, Joe Bauer said: Exactly. Yet, you don't read complaining commentary about the cost of homes or rents here in our local newspapers. Or hear it on local radio or TV. The reason being that those who "can afford" to live here ( again with a very small minority of those who barely hang in ) are not unhappy or stressed about the surreally high cost of housing. They are happy about the fact their residences or rentals are worth so much. I'd say half the homeowners here inherited their properties from their parents who bought them when they were 1/10th what they are worth now. They feel lucky to have inherited these gold mines. The rest just have that much money on their own with many earning high incomes like doctors or other professionals. Heck police in our small 5,000 population city of Carmel By The Sea make up to $200,000 a year with benefits. Firefighters here make between $100,000 to $200,000 themselves with overtime. They can all retire starting at age 50 and their pensions are 90% of their last year's salary. Just sharing some facts as it tells you what it takes to live in this luxury area anymore. Of course Monterey and the surrounding area is still physically beautiful as always. There is a powerful lobby behind these astronomical real estate values. They are protective of their self-interests. As Paul mentioned, investor groups, home flippers, landlords, banks and mortgage lenders, property insurance companies. it's self-perpetuating for these groups. Even the government is involved. The County of Monterey LOVES these enormous valuations. It means unprecedented bucketfuls of money for them in property taxes. They don't ever want to see these drop. The cities same thing. Hotel room taxes here ALONE bring in 10's of millions of dollars into city coffers. 10 to 12 million for Monterey alone? Carmel 8 million? And these stratospheric rents and home prices keep the Riffraff out. On top of all this self-interest greed, we have always had a significant military presence here. Thousands of service men and women and their families rent homes here throughout the year. Defense Language School. Naval Post Graduate School. Still some operations in Fort Ord ten miles away. The military could care less about the rent costs. They pay these rents "on top of" their service members basic pay and benefits. The home next to us ( also built in the mid-1950's, and kind of a junker ) rents for $5,000 a month. No problem for the military. Their budget funds are never stressed even paying these super high rents. Landlords here LOVE military families. Their rents are guaranteed. The military unlimited rent funding helps keep rents that high here. There's no incentive for the landlords to ever lower their rents knowing the military has no problem ( or complaints ) paying them. I know this is off-track from the thread but several of you did ask about Monterey, and Paul did comment on the high cost of living here and in so many areas in California and elsewhere. I see the divide between the income classes in our country ( most of the urban areas ) hitting never before seen levels with not just rents and home prices but also with all the other basic needs costs. Ever rising ( 10 to 15% a year!?) food, gas, utilities, transportation, insurance, child and elderly care and health care ... you name it. Middle class incomes were adequate for decades in providing these needs. Not anymore without growing stress and lowering of the standard of living. Contemplating the ET presence subject is a luxury after being constantly having to deal with basic needs providing stresses now-a-days...IMO anyways. My family was one of those military families that rented in Atwater CA for about 5 months in both 1962 and then again in summer/fall 1970. I was too young to remember the first rental but the second one, an apartment, was of the 'no frills' variety with no air conditioning (this was not near the coast; Atwater CA is way inland where summers are hot!!) I have no idea what dad paid in rent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Morrow Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 On 6/1/2020 at 7:41 PM, James DiEugenio said: Paul: You cannot be serious. Seamus Coogan exposed this whole morass of madness many years ago in depth. It was based on forged documents. These guys tried to drag Marilyn Monroe into their crazy scheme also, and that was a forged document. You like giving them credence, guys who fake papers? https://kennedysandking.com/content/jfk-and-the-majestic-papers-the-history-of-a-hoax-introduction Caddy brings in some of the most unreliable and bizarre tangents on the JFK case of anyone. Yeah, Hunt said JFK was killed over aliens. 😗 Sort of like Hunt pinning it on LBJ and Morales also. 😀 Hunt never repeated what he actually said to the original producers of the program. I know because I know the guy. Keep on trucking Doug. Jim DiEugenio, where can I find the best debunking of E. Howard Hunt on the internet or in a book? Also, exactly what did Hunt say to the "original producers of the program." Just curious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Douglas Caddy Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 PolitiFact | Fact-checking Joe Biden on debt accumulated under Donald Trump Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Bauer Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 (edited) 23 minutes ago, Douglas Caddy said: PolitiFact | Fact-checking Joe Biden on debt accumulated under Donald Trump How about a chart showing the "moral and integrity bankruptcy" debt left by the presidents listed? Edited May 20 by Joe Bauer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Douglas Caddy Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 Robert F Kennedy Jr lists foreclosed New York home as voting address | Robert Kennedy | The Guardian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Douglas Caddy Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 More on this story RFK Jr. lists voting address at Westchester home — that's in foreclosure and where neighbors have never seen him (nypost.com) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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