Closing of the year-prelude

Ok, so I a borrowed the title of a favorite Christmas song (from the movie TOYS)--but it is the closing of the year. Don't worry, I'm not going to go though the WHOLE year in one post.

This year has been remarkable in many ways--but so are they all. This one is extra special because it raises the very difficult question of whether WE (as in humans), as individuals, groups, organizations, cults, political parties and even the entire human species can learn from history. One would think that is possible, given our high opinion of ourselves as a species), but if you study history carefully--not the high school textbook sanitized stuff, but the real deal, there is doubt that learning from past events is often accomplished by humans. Oh, we get through a couple decades of schooling and pass drivers tests, that sort of thing. Oh, and some of us are really good at learning new tech gadgets (not necessarily what they're good for). When we get to--"that didn't work very well and I should try something different--maybe radically different" we kinda freeze up and glance at the comfort of our old path, then realize that accountability in our current world is about a mile wide and an inch deep--you ain't gonna drown, even if you are found out to be wandering down the wrong path yet again! The other worrisome thing is the number of BOOKS written on how to learn from history and CHANGE! There are thousands--and like cold remedies--if there was one that worked, there would not be thousands.

As a species, and all the way down to individuals, we seem to find ourselves in the Oliver and Hardy world of "This is a fine mess we got ourselves into" deja vu syndrome. How come? Two main reasons: comfort and accountability (or lack of same).

The plan for this blog is to look at some major policy and strategic agendas that were front and center in real estate for a portion of 2010. Then figure out what happened (not always easy--transparency is right up there with accountability as a word that means something in dictionaries, but not so much in the real world) and what should have happened instead. If there's still courage left (yours and mine), I'll ponder whether comfort and a lack of accountability may well leave us on the same questionable paths in 2011. That leaves us at one of my favorite quotes--the difference between a rut and a grave is the configuration of the hole (the original said shape of the hole, but that's not quite right--they are both sorta rectangular--OK that's my OCD kicking in).

As for accountability, I now feel obligated to explain the paucity of posts, because I promised a plethora. Been sick with sinus and middle ear problems, plus I was writing other stuff during periods of relative lucidity the past week. In addition, lack of open houses has cut into my reading time (that is changing this week), but I'm started on a new book (Drive) that will generate a rich assortment of posts. It explains some misgivings I've had about the real estate industry and wikinomics for the past few years. Any one book that can do that has got to good.