California, Here I Go

With a big wad burning a hole in his pocket, Paul F. Clark, president of Boston's John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co., dropped in on Los Angeles. He wanted to invest his company's cash in a new housing project which house-hungry Los Angeles badly needed. But last week Clark decided against it; he saw clouds ahead for even Sunkist Angelenos. Said he: "We can't help solve your housing problem because of your real-estate inflation. An insurance company can't invest in blown-up values. Real estate is more inflated in California than anywhere else in the country . . . and your building costs, we find, are also higher than in the rest of the country.* We are in for a recession and it will probably be a healthy thing. It is bound to strike you."

* Manhattan's F. W. Dodge Corp. reported last week that most U.S. builders think that costs are leveling off everywhere except on the Pacific Coast.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.