WHY I'LL NEVER LACK FOR WORK. Repeat after me. "A change in the price of a good produces a movement along a Demand Curve. A change in the price of some other good (or incomes, or populations, or consumer information) produces a new Demand Curve."

Kelly Zito at the San Francisco Chronicle never had that lesson. (There's probably some misuse of the term "median" as well, but that's King's turf.)

Some economists have warned for several years that housing markets in expensive cities like San Francisco could become victims of their own success. That is, sky-high home prices could drive consumers from the market, forcing property values lower.

However, low interest rates, greater use of riskier adjustable mortgages and strong demand from repeat buyers have continued to buoy prices and sales.

Notice the error in the first paragraph. A higher price means a lower consumption rate along the same demand curve. Note also the Curve Shifters at work in the second paragraph. Um, and isn't a repeat buyer trading up -- a net buyer of housing services but simultaneously selling one house and buying another?

Alas, Best of the Web was too quick to criticize.

Uh, yeah, Kelly, that's what's called "the law of supply and demand."

No. Revise and resubmit.

RUNNING EXTRA. Yes, it does make a good exam problem.