A couple of more news snippets.

I noticed that Paul-doh noticed the same irony in the raising of fees just as the housing boom turns to bust. Haven't these people ever heard of economic incentives and decentives?

Borders has turned a 10% increase in sales into a profit loss. It's like the old saying, they lose money on every Harry Potter book, but make up for it in volume.

I never thought I could take the side of builders and developers, but the attitude of the inspection people would certainly be maddening. They don't see any reason to hurry, even though they are way behind. They don't think they're behind enough to warrant overtime. It would be like going to the DMV and seeing 3 'workers' sitting at their desks doing apparently nothing, while one 'worker' mossies up the counter once in a while to actually deal with customers.... Time is money, folks.