A man was looking for an apartment or condo in Barcelona. I almost upchucked at the state of the places at which he was looking. Of course, once they were fixed up (18 months later!), they were attractive but I almost threw up to think he paid $427,000 ($US) for a two-bedroom, one bath place that was around 600 square feet. Holy crap! Almost a half million dollars for a little cracker box that you can't get a double bed in the 2nd bedroom and nothing more than a double in the master bedroom. You couldn't turn around in the bathroom and the kitchen? I'd slit my wrists if I had to cook in the postage stamp.

I know we're spoiled but I'm offended by the price of real estate in the big cities around the world. No wonder we're in a worldwide recession. And who the hell can afford these places? What kind of jobs do they have that they can afford that much? Something very, very wrong. out of kilter.