Home > Jay Bookman > Archives > 2008 > December > 31
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
‘The Forever War’: Highly recommended for those who care to know
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I just finished reading Dexter Filkins’ “The Forever War,” a Christmas present. I recommend it highly.
Filkins is the New York Times war correspondent who has reported from Afghanistan, Iraq and now Afghanistan again. He puts himself at the front lines, often in ways that seem foolhardy, but he comes away with remarkable stuff. I hate to use cliches such as “gripping,” but his book is … gripping. You start reading it and it’s hard to stop.
It also gives you a real ground-level view of the difficulty of what we’re trying to accomplish by force of arms, and what our men and women in uniform face overseas. In my conversations with military people, the constant refrain is that they feel they have gone to war while the American people have gone to the shopping mall. They feel ignored by a population that just doesn’t seem to care much anymore, and it’s hard to argue with that perception. They come home on leave or on rotation, and it shocks them to see that the war that had occupied their every waking and sleeping moment gets almost no attention here at home.
The number of U.S. media outlets with reporters in Iraq and Afghanistan is down to barely a handful. Part of that’s a consequence of economics — keeping journalists in a war setting is expensive, and the media industry is suffering. That reality aside, it’s certainly fair to criticize decisions by media executives to focus on celebrity coverage while ignoring the efforts of our military.
But if you look a little deeper, those media executives are merely responding to the market. The American people just aren’t interested in war coverage. It doesn’t do anyone any good to file news stories that few people read or watch, and the lack of media coverage is a reaction to that reality.
However, for those who do want to know, “The Forever War” will tell you a lot.
Permalink | Comments (138) | Post your comment |
At this rate, they’ll be giving houses away in a box of Cracker Jacks
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Let’s put 2008 behind us, shall we? Let’s officially declare this last day of the year as the bottom and then move on.
If only it were that easy….
from the New York Times:
“… home prices in 20 metropolitan areas across the country dropped at a record rate of 18 percent in October from a year earlier as the fallout from the financial collapse reverberated through the housing market.
According to the measure, the Standard & Poor’s/Case Shiller Home Price Index, all 20 cities surveyed reported one-year price declines in October. Prices in 14 of the 20 metropolitan areas fell at a record rate.
“October was clearly the free-fall month,” said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at Standard & Poor’s. “Everything was going against us in October, without exception.”
After increasing steadily through the first part of the decade, home prices have fallen every month since January 2007, their slide accelerating as troubles in the housing market infected the broader economy and brought down financial firms. Now, as buyers sit on the sideline and a glut of unsold homes clogs the market, economists say that home prices might continue to slide throughout 2009.”
“Metro Atlanta home prices took a record double-digit tumble in the year ending in October, according to a closely watched 20-city index released Tuesday.
With an average price drop of 10.5 percent for existing single-family houses, Atlanta joined 13 other cities experiencing double-digit declines. It was the metro area’s first annual double-digit drop since the index started reporting Atlanta data in 1991.
The metro area also posted a record month-to-month decline of 2.4 percent.
“The only thing selling is foreclosures if you’re on the south side of town,” said Rita Hutson, an associate broker at Metrobrokers/GMAC Real Estate. “It has absolutely gotten worse.”
Shea Zimmerman, senior vice president and managing broker at the Harry Norman Realtors office in East Cobb, said her region has faced a slightly better situation with price drops of about 7 or 8 percent, thanks to a strong school system that has kept home values from falling too far.”
And here’s the city by city list:
City, monthly price change, annual price change
• Atlanta, -2.4%, -10.5%
• Boston, -1.1%, -6.0%
• Charlotte, -1.8%, -4.4%
• Chicago, -1.6%, -10.8%
• Cleveland, -1.0%, -6.2%
• Dallas, -1.1%, -3.0%
• Denver, -1.5%, -5.2%
• Detroit, -4.5%, -20.4%
• Las Vegas, -2.7%, -31.7%
• Los Angeles, -2.6%, -27.9%
• Miami, -3.0%, -29.0%
• Minneapolis, -3.4%, -16.3%
• New York, -0.9%, -7.5%
• Phoenix, -3.3%, -32.7%
• Portland, -1.9%, -10.1%
• San Diego, -3.0%, -26.7%
• San Francisco, -4.2%,-31.0%
• Seattle, -1.4%, -10.2%
• Tampa, -3.4%, -19.8%
• Washington, -2.7%, -18.7%
Source: Standard and Poor’s
Services »
