California... Welcome to the Surflation

On a recent trip to San Diego, I saw the recession in full swing. Depending on what side of the street you are on in San Diego, you see many a houses for sale and many a store front empty. The local radio and TV stations host and promote real estate foreclosure auctions, and the number of people trying to get you into the high-rise open houses verges on the pressure sales of the Tahitian Village timeshare resort in Vegas. I can only imagine what what it is like for the builders that are holding huge loans that are coming due in the next 12-18 months on properties that are 100% done and 5% sold.

I also noticed the phenomenon that I will call Surflation. It is a simple idea that the easy going laid back surf type people have held for years-- when all else is bad, hit the ocean, ride some waves and trow back a few brews.

Despite the fact that the work week was in full swing and the weather was in fall and not spring fashion, the surflation was higher than I have ever seen. The beaches from PB, down Coronado and all the way to Imperial Beach were packed with bronze bodied Californians who, despite the economy, had choosen to just hang ten. Wet suits and long boards, coupled with the famous rolling coller lined the beaches of San Diego on a day that I, despite my 5280 altitude and love of snow skiing, would not get into that chilly water.

On the streets of the downtown Gas Lamp district, people huslted around in t-shirts and track pants. While many of the wireless stores and clothing boutiques were empty, the pubs, bars and eateries were in full swing. Brew after Brew was being poured to Spicoli like 'dudes' who were taking a break from the waves to injest their daily barley and hops in hopes that the afternoon tide would be worthy of a second round in the water.

All this was happeing while the rest of us refreshed our investment portfolio webpage in hopes that the -23% was an error and should be -2.3%. And while the Feds talked about bailing out another huge bank or giving capital to save off the tide of defalts, the San Diego Surflation crowd did what they do best: Chilled out.

Maybe we could learn from the Surflation crowd and chill out a little. Cause while we pull our hair out from the poor position we took on Crocs last year, the Surflation addicts are catching waves and enjoying life-- and that doesn't sound too bad!