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FILE - In this Oct. 22, 2009 file photo, weapons and drugs seized in special joint operation conducted with the Drug Enforecement Administration against the La Familia drug cartel based out of Michoacan, Mexico and operating in San Bernardino and surrounding counties, are on display at a news conference at sheriff's headquarters in San Bernardino, Calif. Drug cartels have long been the nation?s No. 1 supplier of illegal drugs, but in the past, their operatives rarely ventured beyond the border. A wide-ranging Associated Press review of federal court cases and government drug-enforcement data, plus interviews with many top law enforcement officials, indicate the groups have begun deploying agents from their inner circles to the U.S. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)
FILE - In this Oct. 22, 2009 file photo, weapons and drugs seized in special joint operation conducted with the Drug Enforecement Administration against the La Familia drug cartel based out of Michoacan, Mexico and operating in San Bernardino and surrounding counties, are on display at a news conference at sheriff's headquarters in San Bernardino, Calif. Drug cartels have long been the nation?s No. 1 supplier of illegal drugs, but in the past, their operatives rarely ventured beyond the border. A wide-ranging Associated Press review of federal court cases and government drug-enforcement data, plus interviews with many top law enforcement officials, indicate the groups have begun deploying agents from their inner circles to the U.S. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)
This 2009 photo provided by the Gwinnett County Sheriff's Department in Lawrenceville, Ga., shows reputed cartel operative Socorro Hernandez-Rodriguez after his arrest in a suburb of Atlanta. Hernandez-Rodriguez was later convicted of sweeping drug trafficking charges. Prosecutors said he was a high-ranking figure in the La Familia cartel, sent to the U.S. to run a drug cell. His defense lawyers denied he was a major figure in the cartel. (AP Photo/Courtesy of the Gwinnett County Sheriff?s Department)
In this Feb. 14, 2013 photo, Art Bilek, executive vice president of the Chicago Crime Commission, left, announces that Joaquin ``El Chapo'' Guzman, a drug kingpin in Mexico, has been named Chicago's Public Enemy No. 1, during a news conference in Chicago. Looking on is Jack Riley, right, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration in Chicago and Peter Bensinger, former Administrator of the United States DEA. Ruthless drug cartels have long been the nation?s No. 1 supplier of illegal drugs, but in the past, their operatives rarely ventured beyond the border. A wide-ranging Associated Press review of federal court cases and government drug-enforcement data, plus interviews with many top law enforcement officials, indicate the groups have begun deploying agents from their inner circles to the U.S. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)
In this Dec. 11, 2012 file photo, Jack Riley, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration in Chicago, points out local Mexican drug cartel problem areas on a map in the new interagency Strike Force office in Chicago. Looking on is DEA agent Vince Balbo. The ruthless syndicates have long been the nation?s No. 1 supplier of illegal drugs, but in the past, their operatives rarely ventured beyond the border. A wide-ranging Associated Press review of federal court cases and government drug-enforcement data, plus interviews with many top law enforcement officials, indicate the groups have begun deploying agents from their inner circles to the U.S. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)
FILE - This Feb. 14, 2013 file photo, shows a poster displayed at a Chicago Crime Commission news conference in Chicago, where Joaquin ``El Chapo'' Guzman, a drug kingpin in Mexico, was named as Chicago's Public Enemy No. 1, It is first time since prohibition, when the label was created for Al Capone, that anyone else has been named Public Enemy No. 1. Ruthless drug cartels have long been the nation?s No. 1 supplier of illegal drugs, but in the past, their operatives rarely ventured beyond the border. A wide-ranging Associated Press review of federal court cases and government drug-enforcement data, plus interviews with many top law enforcement officials, indicate the groups have begun deploying agents from their inner circles to the U.S. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)
CHICAGO (AP) ? Mexican drug cartels whose operatives once rarely ventured beyond the U.S. border are dispatching some of their most trusted agents to live and work deep inside the United States ? an emboldened presence that experts believe is meant to tighten their grip on the world's most lucrative narcotics market and maximize profits.
If left unchecked, authorities say, the cartels' move into the American interior could render the syndicates harder than ever to dislodge and pave the way for them to expand into other criminal enterprises such as prostitution, kidnapping-and-extortion rackets and money laundering.
Cartel activity in the U.S. is certainly not new. Starting in the 1990s, the ruthless syndicates became the nation's No. 1 supplier of illegal drugs, using unaffiliated middlemen to smuggle cocaine, marijuana and heroin beyond the border or even to grow pot here.
But a wide-ranging Associated Press review of federal court cases and government drug-enforcement data, plus interviews with many top law enforcement officials, indicate the groups have begun deploying agents from their inner circles to the U.S. Cartel operatives are suspected of running drug-distribution networks in at least nine non-border states, often in middle-class suburbs in the Midwest, South and Northeast.
"It's probably the most serious threat the United States has faced from organized crime," said Jack Riley, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration's Chicago office.
The cartel threat looms so large that one of Mexico's most notorious drug kingpins ? a man who has never set foot in Chicago ? was recently named the city's Public Enemy No. 1, the same notorious label once assigned to Al Capone.
The Chicago Crime Commission, a non-government agency that tracks crime trends in the region, said it considers Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman even more menacing than Capone because Guzman leads the deadly Sinaloa cartel, which supplies most of the narcotics sold in Chicago and in many cities across the U.S.
Years ago, Mexico faced the same problem ? of then-nascent cartels expanding their power ? "and didn't nip the problem in the bud," said Jack Killorin, head of an anti-trafficking program in Atlanta for the Office of National Drug Control Policy. "And see where they are now."
Riley sounds a similar alarm: "People think, 'The border's 1,700 miles away. This isn't our problem.' Well, it is. These days, we operate as if Chicago is on the border."
Border states from Texas to California have long grappled with a cartel presence. But cases involving cartel members have now emerged in the suburbs of Chicago and Atlanta, as well as Columbus, Ohio, Louisville, Ky., and rural North Carolina. Suspects have also surfaced in Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota and Pennsylvania.
Mexican drug cartels "are taking over our neighborhoods," Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane warned a legislative committee in February. State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan disputed her claim, saying cartels are primarily drug suppliers, not the ones trafficking drugs on the ground.
For years, cartels were more inclined to make deals in Mexico with American traffickers, who would then handle transportation to and distribution within major cities, said Art Bilek, a former organized crime investigator who is now executive vice president of the crime commission.
As their organizations grew more sophisticated, the cartels began scheming to keep more profits for themselves. So leaders sought to cut out middlemen and assume more direct control, pushing aside American traffickers, he said.
Beginning two or three years ago, authorities noticed that cartels were putting "deputies on the ground here," Bilek said. "Chicago became such a massive market ... it was critical that they had firm control."
To help fight the syndicates, Chicago recently opened a first-of-its-kind facility at a secret location where 70 federal agents work side-by-side with police and prosecutors. Their primary focus is the point of contact between suburban-based cartel operatives and city street gangs who act as retail salesmen. That is when both sides are most vulnerable to detection, when they are most likely to meet in the open or use cellphones that can be wiretapped.
Others are skeptical about claims cartels are expanding their presence, saying law-enforcement agencies are prone to exaggerating threats to justify bigger budgets.
David Shirk, of the University of San Diego's Trans-Border Institute, said there is a dearth of reliable intelligence that cartels are dispatching operatives from Mexico on a large scale.
"We know astonishingly little about the structure and dynamics of cartels north of the border," Shirk said. "We need to be very cautious about the assumptions we make."
Statistics from the DEA suggest a heightened cartel presence in more U.S. cities. In 2008, around 230 American communities reported some level of cartel presence. That number climbed to more than 1,200 in 2011, the most recent year for which information is available, though the increase is partly due to better reporting.
Dozens of federal agents and local police interviewed by the AP said they have identified cartel members or operatives using wiretapped conversations, informants or confessions. Hundreds of court documents reviewed by the AP appear to support those statements.
"This is the first time we've been seeing it ? cartels who have their operatives actually sent here," said Richard Pearson, a lieutenant with the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department, which arrested four alleged operatives of the Zetas cartel in November in the suburb of Okolona.
People who live on the tree-lined street where authorities seized more than 2,400 pounds of marijuana and more than $1 million in cash were shocked to learn their low-key neighbors were accused of working for one of Mexico's most violent drug syndicates, Pearson said.
One of the best documented cases is Jose Gonzalez-Zavala, who was dispatched to the U.S. by the La Familia cartel, according to court filings.
In 2008, the former taxi driver and father of five moved into a spacious home at 1416 Brookfield Drive in a middle-class neighborhood of Joliet, southwest of Chicago. From there, court papers indicate, he oversaw wholesale shipments of cocaine in Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana.
Wiretap transcripts reveal he called an unidentified cartel boss in Mexico almost every day, displaying the deference any midlevel executive might show to someone higher up the corporate ladder. Once he stammered as he explained that one customer would not pay a debt until after a trip.
"No," snaps the boss. "What we need is for him to pay."
The same cartel assigned Jorge Guadalupe Ayala-German to guard a Chicago-area stash house for $300 a week, plus a promised $35,000 lump-sum payment once he returned to Mexico after a year or two, according to court documents.
Ayala-German brought his wife and child to help give the house the appearance of an ordinary family residence. But he was arrested before he could return home and pleaded guilty to multiple trafficking charges. He will be sentenced later this year.
Socorro Hernandez-Rodriguez was convicted in 2011 of heading a massive drug operation in suburban Atlanta's Gwinnett County. The chief prosecutor said he and his associates were high-ranking figures in the La Familia cartel ? an allegation defense lawyers denied.
And at the end of February outside Columbus, Ohio, authorities arrested 34-year-old Isaac Eli Perez Neri, who allegedly told investigators he was a debt collector for the Sinaloa cartel.
An Atlanta attorney who has represented reputed cartel members says authorities sometimes overstate the threat such men pose.
"Often, you have a kid whose first time leaving Mexico is sleeping on a mattress at a stash house playing Game Boy, eating Burger King, just checking drugs or money in and out," said Bruce Harvey. "Then he's arrested and gets a gargantuan sentence. It's sad."
Because cartels accumulate houses full of cash, they run the constant risk associates will skim off the top. That points to the main reason cartels prefer their own people: Trust is hard to come by in their cutthroat world. There's also a fear factor. Cartels can exert more control on their operatives than on middlemen, often by threatening to torture or kill loved ones back home.
Danny Porter, chief prosecutor in Gwinnett County, Ga., said he has tried to entice dozens of suspected cartel members to cooperate with American authorities. Nearly all declined. Some laughed in his face.
"They say, 'We are more scared of them (the cartels) than we are of you. We talk and they'll boil our family in acid,'" Porter said. "Their families are essentially hostages."
Citing the safety of his own family, Gonzalez-Zavala declined to cooperate with authorities in exchange for years being shaved off his 40-year sentence.
In other cases, cartel brass send their own family members to the U.S.
"They're sometimes married or related to people in the cartels," Porter said. "They don't hire casual labor." So meticulous have cartels become that some even have operatives fill out job applications before being dispatched to the U.S., Riley added.
In Mexico, the cartels are known for a staggering number of killings ? more than 50,000, according to one tally. Beheadings are sometimes a signature.
So far, cartels don't appear to be directly responsible for large numbers of slayings in the United States, though the Texas Department of Public Safety reported 22 killings and five kidnappings in Texas at the hands of Mexican cartels from 2010 through mid- 2011.
Still, police worry that increased cartel activity could fuel heightened violence.
In Chicago, the police commander who oversees narcotics investigations, James O'Grady, said street-gang disputes over turf account for most of the city's uptick in murders last year, when slayings topped 500 for the first time since 2008. Although the cartels aren't dictating the territorial wars, they are the source of drugs.
Riley's assessment is stark: He argues that the cartels should be seen as an underlying cause of Chicago's disturbingly high murder rate.
"They are the puppeteers," he said. "Maybe the shooter didn't know and maybe the victim didn't know that. But if you follow it down the line, the cartels are ultimately responsible."
___
Follow Michael Tarm at www.twitter.com/mtarm .
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CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) ? The oldest person in the United States has died at age 113, just weeks before her 114th birthday.
A spokeswoman from Elsie Thompson's church in Clearwater, Fla., said she died March 21.
The Gerontology Research Group, which verifies age information for Guinness World Records, listed Thompson as the oldest living U.S. citizen after January's death of 114-year-old Mamie Rearden of South Carolina.
Thompson was born in Beaver Falls, Pa., on April 5, 1899. Her husband, Ronald Thompson, was a Republican state senator in Pennsylvania, and in 1971, the couple moved to Clearwater, Fla. Mr. Thompson died in 1986.
Mrs. Thompson is survived by her son, who is in California, and four grandchildren.
She often said the secret to her longevity was loving people and greeting each day with a smile.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/oldest-person-united-states-dies-age-113-193153479.html
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By Keith Coffman
DENVER (Reuters) - A white supremacist parolee suspected of killing Colorado's prisons chief and a pizza delivery man last month had been mistakenly released from prison in January - four years early - due to a clerical error, court officials said on Monday.
Evan Spencer Ebel, 28, was killed in a roadside gun battle with police following a high-speed chase in Texas, two days after the March 19 killing of Tom Clements, executive director of the Colorado Department of Corrections.
Ebel had been released from prison in Colorado early after a judicial assistant failed to note on his prison file that sentences he received in 2008 for second-degree assault were supposed to be served consecutively rather than concurrently, the chief judge and district administrator for the 11th Judicial District said in a statement.
Ebel, who pleaded guilty to the assault charge and received a reduced sentence in a deal with prosecutors, was released on mandatory parole on January 28 of this year, according to the Colorado Department of Corrections.
"The district has undertaken a review of its practices in an effort to avoid a re-occurrence of this circumstance," Chief Judge Charles Barton and District Administrator Walter Blair said in the statement.
"The court regrets this oversight and extends condolences to the families of Mr Nathan Leon and Mr Tom Clements," they said.
Authorities have also named Ebel as a suspect in the killing of Domino's pizza delivery driver Nathan Leon in the Denver area two days before Clements was shot dead when he answered the door at his home 45 miles (72 km) south of Denver.
KAUFMAN COUNTY KILLINGS
Ebel was a member of a white supremacist prison gang, the 211 Crew.
According to Colorado court records, he was arrested at least seven times between 2003 and 2010 for crimes including burglary, weapons possession, assault, menacing, robbery and trespassing.
Authorities have said they were looking for ties between the murder of Clements and the January slaying of Mark Hasse, a prosecutor in the Kaufman County District Attorney's Office. Kaufman County is east of Dallas.
The January 31 murder of Hasse occurred the same day the U.S. Department of Justice revealed that the Kaufman County District Attorney's Office was among the agencies involved in a racketeering case against the Aryan Brotherhood white supremacist group.
On Saturday, Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, were found with fatal gunshot wounds at their home near the Texas town of Fourney. Fourney Mayor Darren Rozell has called the killing of McLelland and his wife a "targeted attack."
A search of Ebel's car following the shootout with Texas police turned up a pizza deliverer's shirt, visor, pizza box and heat bag. Ballistics tests established that the same gun he fired at police during that gun battle matched the weapon used to kill Clements and Leon.
Also found in the car were bomb-making materials and instructions for building bombs, according to Texas authorities.
(Reporting by Keith Coffman; Writing and additional reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and David Brunnstrom)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/error-led-early-release-suspected-killer-colorado-prison-015120950.html
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The field is painted for opening day as Atlanta Braves Manager Fredi Gonzalez, left, throws batting practice at Turner Field on Sunday, March 31, 2013, in Atlanta. The Braves play their season opener against the Phillies on Monday. (AP Photo/ Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Curtis Compton)
The field is painted for opening day as Atlanta Braves Manager Fredi Gonzalez, left, throws batting practice at Turner Field on Sunday, March 31, 2013, in Atlanta. The Braves play their season opener against the Phillies on Monday. (AP Photo/ Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Curtis Compton)
A Houston Astros fan runs through the rain outside the stadium before the Astros' season opener baseball game against the Texas Rangers on Sunday, March 31, 2013, in Houston. (AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Smiley N. Pool )
Washington Nationals starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg stands in the dugout during an exhibition baseball game against the New York Yankees at Nationals Park on Friday, March 29, 2013, in Washington. The Yankees won 4-2. Strasburg is expected to start opening on Monday. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Cincinnati Reds grounds crew members prepare the field ready at Great American Ball Park for Monday's opening day baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels, Sunday, March 31, 2013, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Al Behrman)
Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Russell Martin balances a baseball during a team baseball workout at PNC Park, Sunday, March 31, 2013 in preparation for the season opener Monday against the Chicago Cubs in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
The Kansas City Royals have been absent from the playoffs since the day Billy Butler was born. They've barely had a winning season in the last two decades. They've often lost 100 games in a year.
And yet, buoyed by the best record in spring training, hope abounds ? for the Royals, for most everybody putting on a big league uniform.
"There's no reason we shouldn't be better," said Butler, the Royals' All-Star slugger. "How much better that is? I'm not a mind reader. I'm not a projector."
Ah, opening day.
The hot dogs taste better, the boxscores mean more and most every team thinks it's just a break or two away from reaching the World Series.
A dozen games were set for Monday across the majors. Star pitchers Justin Verlander, Stephen Strasburg and Adam Wainwright try to get off to great starts, old rivalries are renewed at Yankee Stadium and Dodger Stadium, and a quirky interleague schedule unfolds.
No snow is in the forecast for any ballpark on April Fools' Day, but freezing temperatures are expected at Target Field in Minnesota when Verlander and the AL champion Tigers take on the Twins.
"It's going to be cold but I've pitched in that kind of weather before," Verlander said. "I don't think about it. It's always cold in Detroit on opening day."
The season started Sunday night in Houston when the Astros, who shifted from the National League to the American League during the winter, hosted the Texas Rangers.
Long the site of baseball's traditional opener, Cincinnati was going to have a new look Monday. That's when Josh Hamilton and his new Los Angeles Angels teammates visit Cincinnati in the first interleague matchup this season.
The Astros' move left 15 teams in each league, meaning an AL vs. NL matchup most every day this season.
"It is very strange," Reds manager Dusty Baker said.
On both coasts, there was a very familiar look ? Red Sox-Yankees and Giants-Dodgers.
Mariano Rivera was set for his final opening day when the banged-up Yankees hosted Boston. The New York closer is among several big names who missed most or even all of last year ? Troy Tulowitzki, Victor Martinez and John Lackey are in that group.
Injured stars Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Curtis Granderson and Mark Teixeira won't be in pinstripes for the first pitch.
"It's still the Yankees, it's still going to be a good lineup," Boston starter Jon Lester said Sunday. "They're missing a few of their big guys but anybody that fills in for them, it's like what I said, they're going to put professional at-bats together and still ? it's not going to be a walk in the park."
No easy decisions, either, for Boston manager John Farrell, one of six new skippers in the majors this year.
At Dodger Stadium, Matt Cain starts for the World Series champion San Francisco Giants when they play Los Angeles in the century-old rivalry.
It will mark the 64th season at the microphone for Dodgers announcer Vin Scully. Heck, Tigers manager Jim Leyland seems like a mere pup by comparison, now starting his 50th year in pro ball.
All-Star shortstop Hanley Ramirez is sidelined for the Dodgers. Around the majors, third basemen Chase Headley of San Diego, David Freese of St. Louis and Brett Lawrie of Toronto will begin the season on the disabled list.
Mets third baseman David Wright plans to be in the lineup at Citi Field to take on San Diego. He hurt his ribcage at the World Baseball Classic.
"I feel good physically," Wright said. "It would have been nice to have maybe a few more at-bats toward the end, but I didn't have that luxury."
On Tuesday, there are two more openers ? Baltimore at Tampa Bay, and Cleveland at revamped Toronto.
All 30 teams will pay tribute to the 20 children and six adults killed last December at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Players, managers, coaches and umpires will wear a memorial patch through Tuesday that includes the seal of Newtown, a black ribbon and 26 stars, and there will be a moment of silence at each stadium.
Seven weeks after teams broke out the bats and balls, players seemed ready to get going.
"I'm really prepared. Well, finally spring training is over, it was a long one," Seattle ace Felix Hernandez said Sunday, a day before his start in Oakland.
"It's another season. We're a different team. It's always special, opening day, not for me but for all the guys," he said.
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Wanting to lose weight is one of the most common issues addressed by hypnotherapists, as well as more traditional counselors. While the issue appears simple on the surface, there are often complex psychological reasons behind an individual?s overeating, sedentary lifestyle or poor food choices.
Thankfully, a great deal of these issues can be worked on at home, by yourself, using the power of self-hypnosis! Here you?ll find some general guidelines to identifying and then working through your unique obstacles to fitness.
As with any self-hypnosis session, begin by creating the most comfortable space you can, free of distractions and filled with soothing sensations, sounds and scents.
Using your favorite self-hypnosis induction technique, place yourself in trance. Once you?re there, simply ask your subconscious what is keeping you from your ideal healthy weight. This is not as simple as it sounds. You?ll probably find that, at least in the beginning, your conscious mind ?jumps in? with tons of rationalizations.
You may feel that you?re doomed to be overweight because of a family history. You might have no energy for exercise. You may even feel that you eat and exercise a healthy amount but still can?t keep the weight off.
Throughout this ?conscious mind chatter,? try to discern the messages your subconscious is sending you. The subconscious is like a computer ? it can?t lie. It only repeats information it has been given.
If you truly and subconsciously believe something false regarding your weight, make a note of this and end your session. Write down each false belief as soon as you?re done, making any notes or observations you picked up along the way. Study these beliefs and determine ways to tackle them individually. False beliefs are often easily addressed through self-hypnotic suggestions and conscious affirmations. Write these down as well. Refer to the list in future sessions and keep your affirmations in a handy place where you will see it several times each day. Imagine that you falsely believe that you are ?doomed? to be overweight. Refute this false belief with an affirmation such as ?I am in complete control of my health, appearance and weight.?
Repeat your affirmations as often as possible. Whenever possible, do this in front of a mirror with a genuine smile on your face and conviction in your voice. Over time, these very true and positive statements will sink into your subconscious mind as fact. Remember to always word affirmations positively (avoid using words like ?can?t,? ?won?t,? ?don?t,? ?not? or ?shouldn?t,?) and in the present tense (?I am healthy? instead of ?I will be healthy?).
In future self-hypnosis sessions, utilize a combination of visualization and commands to retrain your subconscious mind. You may find the ?floating bubble? visualization very helpful, in which you wade through water toward several floating bubbles which represent different goals. In teh case of wight loss, these goals may be a certain number on the scale, a particular size of jeans or a fitness goal such as distance on a treadmill. Whatever your goals are, make them crisp, vivid and realistic.
When using commands, stick with the rules regarding affirmations. Instruct your subconscious using positive statements and the present tense.
Remember that healthy weight loss doesn?t happen overnight. Instead of dangerous crash diets or pills, self-hypnosis provides a gentle, natural and, in the long run, much more effective option. When you change the way you think, your body has no choice but to follow!
Source: http://www.hypnosisblacksecrets.com/hypnosis/self-hypnosis-for-healthy-weight-loss
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But I also have money I'd like to invest in lower risk (and lower reward) investments for the shorter term.
Real estate seems like something I'd like, but it is a huge commitment both personally and financially. So I am thinking of REITs as an alternative.
Is the payoff of a REIT about what you'd get with a rental property? It seems like with a rental property worth 100k, you may get 5k a year in income (assuming the mortgage is paid off) after subtracting various expenses. And a REIT generally offers a dividend of roughly that (about 5% a year) so the income seems the same. Or maybe not, multi unit complexes probably pay more than 5% a year. But they are less liquid, plus you'd assume the people who run a REIT would have far more experience than I would.
I don't know if now is a good time to invest in REITs since the housing market may start to grow over the next 10-20 years. The US population is expected to hit 400 million in the next couple decades, so you'd assume real estate demand would go up (but if nobody has good jobs, it doesn't matter either).
I think I really should've put money into REITs around 2008/2009 when housing was down and I assume the stocks were lower. But live and learn.
Source: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=686766
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