Gerry wrote:

> In article <41312BFB.4B984AAA@yahoo.co.jp>, Eric Takabayashi
> <etakajp@yahoo.co.jp> wrote:
>
> > What do you think $5,000 a year can get you? Should old people be
> > required to live in Alabama?
>
> Real estate is also something I'm not an expert in, so I'm unsure why
> you're asking me.  5k a year in a house will get you a house that will
> cost somebody else 10k a year in 5 years.

Forgot to take what one would be paying in rent into account. Let's call it 10k a
year. 10k a year won't buy you anything decent in Hawaii. It won't even pay the
rent on a house where I come from. Should the elderly in Hawaii move to rural
Arizona?

> Is that a good enough answer.  If one is buying any kind of house these days it
> seems a good investment.

It's a fine investment. I'd do it if I could. Note however, about 40% of people in
the US and Japan don't own their own homes.

Also important: where do they live after they sell the house to enjoy any gains
(minus taxes), and how long do you expect that to last an aged couple? Also where
I come from, a nursing home can cost $10,000 a month, and it seems all long term
care, even at the hospital, has been privatized. Not a misprint.

> Admittedly we're buying a house in Southern California
> where the rise in real estate costs is amazing to watch., particularly
> if you're so invested.

Is the increase between 25-40% a year like the county where I'm from, where a
$300,000 house is considered a fixer-upper?

> Sadly many are not.

Yes, it is those who don't or can't make such preparations who have the real
problems. I don't blame them, when the average house costs $526,000 increasing
25-40% a year, and a nursing home costs $10,000 a month.

> Maybe they should vote for candidates in all their
> elections that address these issues, rather than focusing on gay
> marriage, blowjobs in the oval office, ancient military records and who
> invented the internet.  Amazingly these topics seem to be the central
> issues of their lives rather than such as  health care, insurance, good
> jobs, clean water, etc.

So if through some miracle the minority of people who are considered poor (about
11% in the US, or 4% in Japan) were able to have their voices heard, would it not
bother you if taxes were raised on those better able to care of themselves or
their benefits cut, to pay for those less able to take care of themselves?

> I'm sure they'll know just what to do with SocSec when they're told
> whose fault it all was.
>
> --
> Invest wisely: Over the past 75 years, stocks have averaged annual gains of 2.3
> percent under GOP administrations, compared with 9.5 under Democratic ones.
>  -- Jerry Heaster