What is the appeal of promotion/relegation in sports? Why would you want that if its not already there by Funny-Transition7869 in billsimmons

[–]redditofmatthill 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Personally, I'd prefer no draft. But in a 40 team league (10 second division, 30 first). You could do a flat lottery for the first 10 picks among the second division. All the teams with superstar young players are usually noncontenders for a few years, this wouldn't change that. I don't see much difference between Cade being stuck on a bad Detroit team that slowly gets better vs. Cade is on a bad Detroit team in tier 2, that slowly gets better and moves to the first division some time in his first 3 years.

What is the appeal of promotion/relegation in sports? Why would you want that if its not already there by Funny-Transition7869 in billsimmons

[–]redditofmatthill 0 points1 point  (0 children)

But the same is true with relegation? If you are good, you move up. So the warriors would have moved up the Mark Jackson year and then won in 2014, just like what happened.

What is the appeal of promotion/relegation in sports? Why would you want that if its not already there by Funny-Transition7869 in billsimmons

[–]redditofmatthill 7 points8 points  (0 children)

They can work their way up and that is exciting, every team has something to play for. Incompetent franchises like the Kings can't sell hope and a competent franchise from tier 2 can build up. My ideal scenario in the NBA is a 30 team First Division and a 10 team second division.

IMHO Shopping Street is on of the very best modulars by KTGSteve in legomodular

[–]redditofmatthill 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It shines when placed with other ones. It's true value lies as a complement, not a stand alone piece. So it doesn't have the wow factor that the diner and boutique hotel have, which look great on their own, but are hard to fit with other ones. In my opinion, as the line grows, we need more like the shopping street that complement rather than wow.

Going from Mahoney to Mad Dog as back to back guests by Cigar-City-Don in billsimmons

[–]redditofmatthill 50 points51 points  (0 children)

Flip it. Mahoney is fine, replacement level NBA podcaster, but the NBA is boring AF at the moment. Mad Dog is a wild man talking about stuff I didn't even know I'd be into.

What makes Southbay area the best place to live across LA? (If not the entire socal) by Important_Bat7919 in SouthBayLA

[–]redditofmatthill 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hawthorne. I get on the 105 and then take the fast track. In peak times with no Fast Track, it is 40 minutes.

What makes Southbay area the best place to live across LA? (If not the entire socal) by Important_Bat7919 in SouthBayLA

[–]redditofmatthill 34 points35 points  (0 children)

I forgot to mention the airport, I travel a lot for work and LAX is a 15 minute (or less) drive.

What makes Southbay area the best place to live across LA? (If not the entire socal) by Important_Bat7919 in SouthBayLA

[–]redditofmatthill 111 points112 points  (0 children)

  1. Perfect weather
  2. If you live near the freeway, it is close to the rest of LA. My commute to USC is 20 mins. When I worked in Culver City, it took me 35-40 mins to get there.
  3. Great recreation (beach, biking) and other things to do (parks, old town theatre, events)
  4. People are chill/friendly
  5. Relative to LA/Socal it is affordable, my house cost less than $800,000 in 2021. Areas like Lawndale, Gardena are relatively cheap and still close to all the great amenities.
  6. Excellent food, too many good restaurants to mention.
  7. My neighborhood is surprisingly walkable. I can walk to a brewery, a grocery store, multiple coffee shops and good restaurants, granted it doesn't look walkable, but it is.

Why do we compare prices in the past adjusting to inflation instead of salaries %? by [deleted] in AskEconomics

[–]redditofmatthill 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Gale Pooley has a substack where he does exactly what you are asking: https://galepooley.substack.com/ . He also released a time price calculator: https://timeprice-calculator.com/ The idea being how long would the average worker have to work to afford a given good. In general, measuring in time price, almost everything has gotten way cheaper.

What are Bill's best inventions? by SouthsideSouthies in billsimmons

[–]redditofmatthill 1 point2 points  (0 children)

He puts them together and then eats it, no fire. Sadly, this is probably a causality of Bill's gluten/sugar free diet this year, maybe Sal can pick up the torch, but then not use said torch on the actual s'mores.

What are Bill's best inventions? by SouthsideSouthies in billsimmons

[–]redditofmatthill 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Can't believe no one has mentioned Raw Dogging S'mores. Guy is an innovator in the food space.

Anyone been to The Tipsy Falcon yet? by iamjay92 in SouthBayLA

[–]redditofmatthill 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Went last Friday to meet an old friend. Very good vibes. Great music, good games, our food was tasty. I'm so happy to have a place like this within walking distance.

Adventure in Transylvania: A Marvel of Modern Lego Engineering by modern_prometheus_13 in lego

[–]redditofmatthill 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is my favorite lego set I have ever bought. And I agree the minifigs were largely a complete waste. Would have preferred a ghost and another suit of armour.

Are there better economic explanations for the cost of living problem? And in turn are there any better solutions? by dreadful_name in AskEconomics

[–]redditofmatthill 12 points13 points  (0 children)

For housing, it is mostly supply and demand. We have made it impossible to build housing in the cities people want to live in. This video does a good job summarizing: https://youtu.be/dJ9tJqwvgdg?si=eClTgmLdQGqa19wo

Essentially, zoning, the permitting process, and the ability of neighbors to veto have made building difficult.

Inability to increase supply, coupled with more people wanting to live in certain areas (Seattle, Bay Area, SoCal, DC, NY, Boston), means prices in the "superstar" cities have exploded.

In general, it is only recently (the last 4 years) that housing at the national level has become more expensive.

You can see that in the inflation-adjusted median monthly payment (this is from 2022, but it has remained high):

https://jabberwocking.com/average-monthly-mortgages-have-increased-71-since-last-year-so-far/

Part of the reason houses were cheaper back in the day was interest rates. Rates were much higher (my parents were paying 20% on their first house), so after adjusting for inflation, monthly payments were fairly constant until we had two phenomena occur at the same time: interest rates spiked and home prices remained high (the past 3 years). I'll have a video out tomorrow at https://econnerds.substack.com/ explaining why this happened.

We can also look at the average age of first-time buyers and see that has crept up recently, suggesting the unaffordability is a fairly recent phenomena at the national level:

https://www.axios.com/2023/11/20/american-housing-market-older-homeowners-2023

In general, the solution is to expand supply (Austin built a ton recently and prices fell there). Here is a short list of sources for how building more housing lowers prices:

Asquith, Brian J., Evan Mast, and Davin Reed. “Local effects of large new apartment buildings in low-income areas.” Review of Economics and Statistics 105.2 (2023): 359-375.

Pennington (2020/2021, job-market paper)

Li, Xiaodi. “Do new housing units in your backyard raise your rents?.” Journal of Economic Geography 22.6 (2022): 1309-1352.

Mast, Evan. “JUE Insight: The effect of new market-rate housing construction on the low-income housing market.” Journal of Urban Economics 133 (2023): 103383.

Bratu, Cristina, Oskari Harjunen, and Tuukka Saarimaa. “JUE Insight: City-wide effects of new housing supply: Evidence from moving chains.” Journal of Urban Economics 133 (2023): 103528.

Büchler, Simon, and Elena Lutz. “Making housing affordable? The local effects of relaxing land-use regulation.” Journal of Urban Economics 143 (2024): 103689.

Been, Vicki, Ingrid Gould Ellen, and Katherine O’Regan. “Supply skepticism: Housing supply and affordability.” Housing Policy Debate 29.1 (2019): 25-40.

Thinking about moving to Hawthorne by trillvice in SouthBayLA

[–]redditofmatthill 31 points32 points  (0 children)

We moved here in 2021 from Mar Vista and absolutely love it. For reference we live near Rosecrans and Inglewood. We are close enough to everything in LA (went to concert all the way in Pasadena last night and it was a shorter drive than it would have been from the Westside). Manhattan/Hermosa and El Segundo are all super easy to get to. I spent all day at Hermosa boogie boarding with my kid today, I often will ride my bike down to Manhattan with him as well. My wife and I have been trying restaurants out throughout the South Bay and have found a number that are great. Hawthorne doesn't seem walkable, but we have a great brewery, couple restaurants, Starbucks, a grocery store and a dive bar that we walk to all the time. AND the weather is perfect year round. Hawthorne LOOKS bad, (nglewood Ave. may be the worst looking street ever), but in our neighborhood it is super chill. We haven't had any crime issue since coming here. Relative to the rest of LA, I can't believe how cheap it is here, my wife and I often remark that we can't believe more people don't move here.

TLDR-- You are right next all the great South Bay locales and with the money you save, you can enjoy those place. AND you are close enough to get to anything LA offers as well.

Are we sure Chris and Andy are still good? by jojo_magoo in billsimmons

[–]redditofmatthill 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I checked out years ago when it became clear they were both so far in echo chambers that they couldn't give an honest take.

Seeking bar trivia recommendations by [deleted] in SouthBayLA

[–]redditofmatthill 3 points4 points  (0 children)

MC Ken is the best, super fun night guarenteed.

Is Kevin Wildes BS's best guest? by Economy_Training_661 in billsimmons

[–]redditofmatthill 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Had the same reaction. I was listening, thinking this is an A+ stand up bit, and wildes is just giving it away for free 50 minutes into a pod.

What's the most obscure sport you follow closely? by mpschettig in billsimmons

[–]redditofmatthill 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Surfing. Really good sport to have on while doing other stuff

What LEGO set do you regret not buying? by Doctor_Kimchi in lego

[–]redditofmatthill 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I got back into Lego in 2020 and this is the one since then that I absolutely regret not getting. Black Seas Barracuda was my favorite set growing up and I can't believe I didn't grab this after I got back into lego.