‘Keeping Our Fingers’ Crossed On The Housing Economy
The Arizona Republic looks at the states housing economy. “With millions of dollars on the line, several East Valley cities are appealing last year’s mid-decade U.S. census after early estimates showed thousands fewer residents than expected in Maricopa County.”
“Meanwhile, the Census Bureau has agreed to resurvey a sample of vacant housing units and is expected to be working in the county until the end of May.”
“‘The cities are very hopeful this will make a difference and increase the population number,’ said Heidi Pahl, census coordinator for the Maricopa Association of Governments. ‘”We’re all keeping our fingers crossed.’”
“Town officials in Gilbert were trying to evaluate how the state’s fastest-growing community was undercounted in the survey. The estimate for Glendale came up more than 2,700 residents short of the city’s own estimates. Paradise Valley, which filed a protest letter April 11, believes its current population to be 14,500, rather than the 13,397 indicted by the preliminary census figures.”
“Town officials believe the undercount is due to the survey not properly addressing the occupancy rate for guesthouses and the timing of the survey, when many residents were away on vacation.”
“‘In terms of job quality as defined by wages, Arizona is in the middle of the states, though below the national average,’ said Tom Rex, a researcher at Arizona State University. ‘If job quality is defined more broadly as total compensation including fringe benefits, the state may not compare as well, but good data on this are lacking. However, as an example, the state has a higher proportion working temporary and contract jobs, which typically do not receive much in the way of benefits.’”
“During 11 of the past 12 years, 100,000 or more people have moved to metropolitan Phoenix, creating booming demand for new construction and services, according to Moody’s.”
“Gina Gordon of Chandler was laid off from a job at a mortgage and finance company that paid $34,000 a year. She recently visited with job fair recruiters at the Maricopa Workforce Connections center in Gilbert and was disheartened to discover the low starting pay. ‘People are paying between $8 and $9 per hour, and I’m standing here thinking that won’t pay the rent,’ she said.”
“On one hand, state workforce officials quickly laud Arizona’s 5.2 percent job growth rate between January 2005 and January 2006, the second fastest in the nation behind Nevada. Yet tens of thousands of new jobs don’t automatically mean increased pay and benefits.”
“Take Wal-Mart Stores Inc., for example. With nearly 30,000 employees in Arizona, it ranks as the largest employer in numbers. Its average pay for full-time store associates in Arizona is $10.09.”
Checking the Census numbers, one finds the rental vacancy rate in Arizona at 11.6% in 2005, above the national average.
“And checking this 4th quarter 2005 table, the Census Bureau found 4% of vacant homes in the west that are for rent have never been occupied. And of the vacant homes for sale in the west, 13% have never been occupied.”
And a reader sent this Republic article in recently. “The Department of Economic Security updated its population projections just last month. The fresh DES figures are raising eyebrows. They show net migration, the population change due to people moving in and out of Arizona falling every year from now until 2055.”
“Are people from other states really going to stop flocking here? Will the outflow, the number of people bailing out, really overshadow the inflow? DES says yes.”
Eh? Walmart is the largest employer in AZ?
I am guessing very few of those 30,000 walmart employees are able to pay mortgages for $300K SFRs.
Or at least this will be uncovered when the toxic I/O ARMs reset in next two years.
BTW, how is it that IO loans are not called out as “balloon payment” loans? It seems to me that they are the same. Except that the amount the payments will increase in 3/5/7 years is unknown at the time that the loan is signed (based on fluctuating rates).
In a ballon the entire balence is due.
If you drive across any inland western state like Nevada, Arizona, or Utah, you’ll see nothing but small towns with bigazz Walmarts in them. It looks like everybody shops and works there, I have no idea what else the people are doing there. But I see many new shiny Nissan Pathfinders on the parking lots.
‘They show net migration, the population change due to people moving in and out of Arizona falling every year from now until 2055.’
With expensive land and low paying jobs, of course people will leave. And the number of retirees won’t be enough to fill the empty homes fast enough, IMO. The Census Bureau exposed what a lot of us suspected by looking around; there are empty houses everywhere.
Lots of empty houses that were counting on continued rapid increases in prices.It was imminent that someone had to be caught holding the bag.
Actually, empty houses are nothing unusual in AZ, at least in the summer months. Many are snowbird residences that are only occupied in the winter. If propoerties stand empty in the winter… look out.
With metals prices soaring, there’s been a huge increase in vacant houses being stripped of copper wiring and plumbing fixtures by thieves. Oh, the joys of being an absentee owner.
In Oregon it was Methheads taking aluminum railings off of bridges in the relative backcountry.
Same end result
What’s the betting some of these houses were registered as owner-occupied whereas in fact they are empty rentals?
Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner. Give that man a prize.
Just wait until it starts hitting 130 degrees in the summer. People will leave PHX in droves, …like rats on a melting ship.
“Take Wal-Mart Stores Inc., for example. With nearly 30,000 employees in Arizona, it ranks as the largest employer in numbers. Its average pay for full-time store associates in Arizona is $10.09.”
May God help us. The biggest employer for an entire state is WalMart…
Where I lived in gilbert there were at least 4 super walmarts within 8 mile radius. It was really ridiculous. Pave over acres of prime land so you can have a walmart closer to you. Something is wrong w/ this picture.
Speaking even more off topic on walmart, here is a story about a town that renamed itself after its Walmart:
Johnsville, Il, Renamed Walmart #11717
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/32649
In case you haven’t seen it, you need to check out JibJab’s parody of Wal-mart …. “Big-Box Mart”.
It’s pretty funny, but in a way sort of sad :
http://www.jibjab.com/JokeBox/JokeBox_JJOrig.aspx?movieid=122
In case you haven’t seen it, you need to check out JibJab’s parody of Wal-mart …. “Big-Box Mart”.
It’s pretty funny, but in a way sort of sad (because of its inherent truth):
http://www.jibjab.com/JokeBox/JokeBox_JJOrig.aspx?movieid=122
Why is this a surprise, retail sales is a labor intensive industry unlike most industries. Wal-Mart is probably the largest private employer in many states (second to the government depending on how you count it). Most of those people would be employed in retail with or without walmart is it somehow better if they are making an average of $8 and spread over Target, Bill’s House of Lights, Spatula City and 15 others?
Because WalMart is like a direct pipeline for Chinese products. Other retailers are not great in this regard, but slightly better. My concern is that the biggest employer should be a company that actually makes something.
Ok, so they make something. And stack it out back in neat piles because there is no to sell to and go home to their empty houses because there is nothing to buy.
Retailers, like Realtors, are not inherently bad. They are a symptom of the overspending, not the cause.
But feepness, treating the disease is so much more painful. Better to keep people complaining about the symptoms.
Oh yes the big bad problem is us naughty over-consuming Americans and we all just need to take yoga and pass some new laws and/or increase some sort of taxes to fix this and then everything will be great just like I predicted in highschool back in the 60s and I wish Robert Kennedy was still alive and stuff
1. Yes, the problem is overspending.
2. How funny, I usually get called a conservative.
I did not say the problem was over-CONSUMING. The problem is over-SPENDING. There is a distinct difference. For example, many people are overspending on homes when they could be spending less… but getting more!
I work in the grocery business. Used to be a good job with good benefits. Now all union grocery stores are in competition with Wal-mart, and the last contract was terrible. This is in So. Cal where we had the strike. Starting pay is in line with walmart, and no benefits for 18 mos. Plus the benefits you do get have been gutted. So what happened after the new contract was implemented? We can’t keep employees. It’s like a revolving door. Hire and quit. People will not do this job for this amount of money. I know there are people out there that think a monkey can do this job, but it is different when you work there. I am lucky that I am in the first tier, and kept my wages, but we have not had a raise in 4 years. My question is how much is enough? How much profit do you need to make? Wal mart makes enough money to pay decent wages and offer health care, but its all about the money. I am sure they have employee theft, and a revolving door with hiring, but if you offer a better job, you get a better class of people. Its all about the money, which is fine, this is America after all, but when you are pulling in what this company does, you might offer incentives to work there.
“So what happened after the new contract was implemented? We can’t keep employees. It’s like a revolving door. Hire and quit. People will not do this job for this amount of money.”
You mean the jobs are now what they should be, temporary while people get more skills and move on to better jobs?
DWR,
Did you make a point of sneering while writing that comment? Maybe those people enjoy working retail… maybe those people don’t have the intellectual horsepower to become doctors and are also overqualified to become a real estate agents… There’s nothing that says working retail should be temporary.
No sneering, just telling it like it is. If they enjoy the work, good for them. Just don’t expect to make a good wage with full benefits doing a job that high school kids can do.
I enjoy sleeping, where do I sign up to get full benefits and a good wage for that?
In Europe, or in America in about 10 years if these people take over.
Wow after reading those comments it’s no wonder all the jobs are being shipped overseas. So my question becomes what jobs do justify full benefits and wages.
The jobs that justify high wages are those that the market will pay high wages for.
It’s called capitalism.
And ironically, working in a retail shop is probably the most secure job there’s going to be, I mean you can’t outsource cashiers to India like you can folks doing _my_ job…
(Of course hiring illegals to do “work Americans won’t do” (at the wages offered because of the illegal discount, which is never actually stated by these opportunistic pols, Americans would be happy to dig septic tanks for $125,000/yr) needs to be punished as a serious felony, call your congressdroid)
I agree with you Pat.
Interestingly, in Australia ALDI, which is a privately owned German company, is taking market share from our big 2 supermarket chains by adopting the exact opposite approach.
They only have a dozen or so name brand items in their stores; everything else is house brand. And they pay their staff surprisingly high rates by Australian retail standards, around $19 per hour. 40 hours @ $19/hour isn’t too far off the median income here.
For that rate they expect staff to undertake any non-management function and switch between them at a moment’s notice, and to virtually learn the entire inventory they sell plus know about the weekly one-offs.
A young guy I know through sport has worked there for 2 years, and enjoys it. Admittedly he’s doing 3 shifts a week (24 hours) while he completes his degree.
Spatula City… we sell spatula’s… and that’s all!
Have you tried making a living at $8 an hour??? It does NOT work. Especially in Arizona. Traffic problems, long commutes, high gas prices, extreme heat, high crime, low paying jobs and now high house prices are a mix for disaster. Phoenix is about to go down in flames and IMO is the #1 place for ground zero of the housing bubble bursting with a bang.
Those jobs are supposed to be entry level and in most cases they are.
What entry level are you talking about?? Phoenix, mainly do to the flood of cheap (illegal?) Mexican labor that employers are accustomed to, wages just plain SUCK! Even for people with 10+ years of experience. Phoenix deserves to burn to the ground. And it might just do so if this past winter (that was more like summer) that is any indication for the scotching summer that is to come.
spatula city? you giys are sooooooo lucky to have a spatula city. next thing you’ll tell me you have underwater bingo.
The biggest employer in China (after the People’s liberation army) is Walmart. That seems to be working for China
I wonder if Wal mart is the biggest private employer in California. The average Walmart full timeemployee made ~18k last year.
“Wal-Mart is the world’s largest retailer.
It is the largest corporation and private employer in the United States.
Wal-Mart is the biggest employer in 25 states. They set the standard for wages and labor practices.
Wal-Mart employs 1.4 million workers worldwide and over 1 million in the United States. More than half of Wal-Mart’s U.S. employees leave the company each year.”
http://www.ufcw.org/press_room/fact_sheets_and_backgrounder/walmart/general.cfm
*bold and italics mine
OT–This ad is so damn funny:
T-Mobile Motivated Realtor
PBob;…Got the vedio but not the sound…
Got it, with sound. Loved the part about the kid the buyer/seller was worried about is now in jail.
T-Mobile also has a “caffeinated cheerleader” in the same series as the “motivated realtor.”
I can’t help but think the cheerleader grew up to become the realtor.
Not sure if anyone has read this amuzing article. It describes the disease “shelterus bubbleria” and it’s spread across the continent and the world. Funny stuff and very imaginative.
http://www.oftwominds.com/blogapr06/bubbleria.html
waiting it out - pretty funny link
Dread Disease Shelterus Bubbleria Sweeps the Nation! (April 24, 2006)
Genetic testing suggests that this new virulent strain “jumped” from either the then out-of-control infection Nasdaqus Bubbleria or its local stubbornly resistant variant, Siliconvallus Bubbleria.
As in other outbreaks of Bubbleria, euphoric investors provided the perfect disease-carrying vector.
As symptomatic greed invaded the hosts, they quickly carried the pathogen to other urban centers–Los Angeles, Miami, and of course the site of previous outbreaks of Bubbleria, New York.
Ironically, the horrifyingly costly die-off of Nasdaqus Bubbleria in 2000-01 only seemed to hasten the spread of its infectious cousin, Shelterus Bubbleria, from urban centers to smaller cities and suburbs.
All too soon, residents in these once-pristine areas began noticing the unmistakable symptoms in their friends and neighbors: shortness of breath when viewing the Sunday Real Estate section, sweaty, rapt attention focused on tales of rapidly rising home values, an overpowering urge to join the rush to “easy, guaranteed riches,”
I heard a rumor that KBH in PHX is experiencing an alarming rate of calcellations - ~45%. While I can’t confirm or deny since I have no direct connection, the number doesn’t surprise me in the least.
A perfect storm with fuel prices escalating, interest rates on a tear, speculators bailing and inventories skyrocketing - nowhere to hide in this storm, especially not behind one of the neg-AM ARMs.
The next domino to fall will be prices… with defaults not too far behind…
AZ;… It would be good info if you tried to confirm this…
Defaults are here. From my foreclosure blog today:
‘Foreclosures jumped 72 percent in first-quarter 2006 compared to first-quarter 2005. The first-quarter 2006 foreclosure report revealed that 323,102 properties nationwide entered some stage of foreclosure, up 38 percent from fourth-quarter 2005′
‘Los Angeles County recorded 6,314 pre-foreclosure filings and foreclosures through March, up from 4,911 in the fourth quarter of 2005. In San Diego the numbers jumped from 1,565 in the fourth quarter of 2005 to 2,241 in the first quarter of 2006.’
‘Alexis McGee said such increases coincided with cooling markets in previously overheated areas, and with the steady rise in interest rates. She added that rampant speculation in some markets, along with a slowdown in price appreciation would lead to an increase in delinquencies and foreclosures.’
‘In Las Vegas, this appears to be already happening,’ she said with foreclosure activity on 3,246 homes the first quarter, compared to 1,480 in the previous quarter. ‘Speculators who came late to the party are being washed out of the market,’ she said.’
This is just the very tip of the iceberg. Damn. I am happy for many of you but worried for the economy. Hopefully it won’t be as bad as the GD and I and many others here will probably profit it from it but there is going to be hell to pay for quite a few.
Per LV Landlord a 119% increase is “normal”. This is not an increase only a regression to the mean.
Good info Ben…..
I have been watching these numbers too, but these percentages are values coming off very low numbers, by historical standards. There is still demand too as auctions are delivering prices that are still very high. I expect a return of the “grim” RTC days… where no interest for auctions is the norm as all the $$$$$ goes elsewhere. That’s when we start skidding along rock bottom… only this time it will almost certainly be much much worse as savings are negative, multi-generational low interest rates drove the mania and the suicide loans that prevail all across the nation.
Gonna be very ugly. The soft landing will be a mirage in the rear view mirror…
Why is this surprising? I think the sentiment of current Arizonans would agree the net migration into this state will be on a decline (Not including all the ex-Cali residents). The facts about Wal-Mart and average pay here in Arizona is dead on. Housing prices are sooo far out whack here in this state in relation to average income. With the lack of mass transit here and rising gas prices, make it less and less attractive to people coming here, and even for those already here.
When people said 10-15 years ago that Phoenix would be a copy of LA, just take a look around… (Pollution, no mass transit, unaffordable housing).
You touch upon one of my biggest pet peeves. EVERYTHING you hear about Los Angeles is a carefully orchestrated lie. LA is dense, urban, transit using and doesn’t depend on autos any more than the average. Surprised? I said it was a careful propoganda plan didn’t I? Want to avoid the “Los Angeles Symdrome?” Easy; low density, decentralized governance, strict citizen land use protections, lots of roads, no transit, … pretty much the opposite of everything you’ve been told.
LA is a complete shi@hole!
I agree.
LA is a magnificent city. very high density, some great architecture, nice weather, and of course…….
carne asada
I’m trying to find a graph of “new home sales” or maybe it’s starts. Anyway, supposedly when they go down 10% a recession follows.
Do they only report this number quarterly? One site had an article on it complete with Merrill Lynch saying it could lead to a recession…but I think it stopped in Nov 05.
http://calculatedrisk.blogspot.com/2006_04_01_calculatedrisk_archive.html
Here is the story…it’s about 1/2 way down the page…”Dimartino: Housing as leading indicator”.
I don’t see how that doesn’t mean a recession is at the door. Especially with falling prices, and no more HELOC money.
I read one site saying HELOC money was 600B per year. Another said 250B. This is an important number.
The 600B number came from the report co-authored by Alan Greenspan. He took a larger view of the matter, including all types of cash-outs, not just straight HELOCs.
How much does the average urinal cleaner at Wal Fart make? Is that an “associate” position? I bristle with pride about being classified as an “associate”. What’s above associate?
ASSOCEO
Patricia, “I work in the grocery business. Used to be a good job with good benefits. Now all union grocery stores are in competition with Wal-mart, and the last contract was terrible. This is in So. Cal where we had the strike.”
Sorry but I can’t agree with you. Grocery store jobs have always been entry level or part time with some choosing it as a life long job. I worked in one starting my soph year in high school and summers through college. I started as a box boy and ended up assistant produce manager. How anyone could do that for years is beyond me. Anyone can be trained to work in one just as anyone can be trained to work in WalMart.
Moreover, the sense of entitlement is pathetic.
Yeah, how dare this person try to make a living wage.
Trying to make a living wage is one thing, bringing nothing to the table and expecting a living wage is another.
Can you please be more condenscending? We all can’t be asst. night managers at Taco Bell like you.
When is it going to be time to shit on the ditch diggers? Would some one call me when it’s time for that?
You mean the ditch greenspan dug for us? The housing ditch?
That doesn’t happen unless the digger is digging the wrong ditch and doesn’t get out in time.
What is the difference between 1) getting in over one’s head by buying more house than one can afford and then looking to be bailed out, and 2) getting a high school education (or less), not learning any marketable skills, and then expecting to be bailed out by being provided a “living wage” for doing a job that requires no skill whatsoever?
dwr,
Easy: Situation 1 is because someone either got greedy, or was too stupid to do their research before buying. Situation 2 can come about from any number of reasons: dropping out of school having to support parents or siblings, not being smart enough to go to college, etc.
I’m not saying these folks should be making enough to buy a Hummer and vacation in Europe, but a living wage. Enough to put food on the table and pay for medical care… treating them like humans in other words.
Seriously dwr, not everyone got the same opportunities as you did. Ever heard of compassion and understanding? It makes you a bigger person.
Unbelievable snobbery coming from you. You are missing the point. So the car companies don’t want to pay Americans to build their cars. Do it cheaper in Mexico. So let Mexicans buy them. Working in a grocery store does not make me mentally deficient. And what sense of entitlement? I can’t even argue the point with someone like you, because you seem to look down your nose at blue-collar workers. I work hard everyday, bought my first house at age 23, and am sitting on a nice profit, waiting for this bubble to burst. Did you even read what I said? I would love to see someone of your ilk try to work with the public, and I would hope to hell you’d get nothing but people like you, mouthy, angry, spoon fed morons.
That was a reply to dwr. And I have never been “bailed out” of anything. Ever. Never been on welfare, have never stolen anything, and if I found your wallet in the street, you’d get it back…intact.
What sense of entitlement!? Let’s see, in your first post, you complained about how bad your last contract was, how you haven’t had a raise in 4 years, and how the grocery companies are making so much profit that they should kick more down to the employees. That is a sense of entitlement in my opinion. Maybe you haven’t had a raise in four years because even your union has to acknowledge how overpaid you already are.
I don’t look down my nose at any group of people, only those people who whine and complain about their situation when it’s their own making.
You’re right, I am angry, angry that people like you are going to ultimately destroy this country.
I don’t look down my nose at any group of people, only those people who whine and complain about their situation when it’s their own making.
Me too, but I look down on people like dwr who whine about people like Patricia.
Hey, as long as I work everyday, and have compassion for people, it seems to make me a better person than dwr. My whole point was they are taking away the middle class slowly but surely. I can’t believe the amount of venom this guy has. I actually make a decent living. It’s the new contract that sucks, not mine. My God, I am ruining this Country!!
employment is a priveledge. just make sure you are priveledged. make sure you are a ceo. stop whining!
We are all working for Walmart.
Anyone can be trained to do your job also. What is your point? And I wish like hell I could work summers only. Not everyone is as lucky as you. Don’t be so close-minded. Grocery store managers make anywhere from 90-100k a yr. There is a reason for that, people wouldn’t do it otherwise. Some would, but you’d sure as hell notice the difference. Ever been to a non-union store? Dirty, disgusting, looks like a bomb went off. Don’t be so classists. I work with a few people that have their B.A.’s. They can’t get paid in their fields either. That is what is happening to this country. Take aways. And it will happen to you too, unless of course you are an owner. Then you just pay your “guest workers” 5 bucks an hour, but expect everyone else to spend money at your company. Who is going to spend money when owners don’t want to pay? Damn, pay attention.
ps. I will be able to retire at age 40 with full pension, ss, and enough money socked away to do what I want. How stupid of me.
I’m with Patricia on this one. If working in a supermarket does not entitle one to earn a living wage, exactly what job is worthy, in your opinion? Do athletes deserve millions to run, jump and throw balls? Exactly what are they producing that makes them worth more than the people we NEED to run grocery stores? Nobody NEEDS to watch some useless idiot run and jump. We do, however, need to eat.
According to your theory (only the top/most skilled should earn a living wage), the competition for those jobs would be so fierce that the pay would eventually come down as well. Not only that, but we would see a lower level of service from people in these “unworthy” positions. Additionally, crime would increase as the “unworthy” have to do whatever is necessary to provide food/shelter/healthcare for themselves and their families.
You obviously don’t think things through.
Off-topic, but did anyone catch this in the Buffalo paper:
People in the middle of a desert in Arizona pay less for water than people in Buffalo, right next to one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world.
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20060423/1028021.asp
Yes it is true.
My last City of Tucson water bill looks like this:
Water Usage: 1496 gallons
Monthly Service Charge: 5.35
Vol $1.03 @ 2.00: 2.06
Cap Charge: 0.08
TOTAL: $7.59
Skip,
Nice article - but come to Marana, NW of Tucson - $100 to $200 water bills per month with a small yard. One nice factor, the water here does not taste like sh$t like it does in Phoenix.
I can’t remember a water bill in Phoenix greater than $70 (up until ‘02), and I grew rye grass in the winter and bermuda all summer long.
Posted this above, but will re-post here since a few people were wondering about it:
“Wal-Mart is the world’s largest retailer.
It is the largest corporation and private employer in the United States.
Wal-Mart is the biggest employer in 25 states. They set the standard for wages and labor practices.
Wal-Mart employs 1.4 million workers worldwide and over 1 million in the United States. More than half of Wal-Mart’s U.S. employees leave the company each year.”
http://www.ufcw.org/press_room/fact_sheets_and_backgrounder/walmart/general.cfm
*bold and italics mine
“Gina Gordon of Chandler was laid off from a job at a mortgage and finance company that paid $34,000 a year. She recently visited with job fair recruiters at the Maricopa Workforce Connections center in Gilbert and was disheartened to discover the low starting pay. ‘People are paying between $8 and $9 per hour, and I’m standing here thinking that won’t pay the rent,’ she said.”
Welcome to post-bubble America, Gina: meager wages, atmospheric insurance costs, soul-draining drudgery in the mines of Wal-Mart.
This is the landscape that greed built. It didn’t happen overnight; we’ve been practicing. These are the fruits of 25 years of I-Got-Mine, whose corollary is Tough-If-You-Couldn’t-Get-Yours.
Not long from now, desperate calls for “reform” will start. Reform in the sense of working together to put America back on track? Greatest good for the greatest number? Maybe a new New Deal?
Ha, ha: none of that Commie talk, please. Nope, demand for further tax breaks to prop up the exurbs as their denizens find themselves isolated on the junk frontiers of nowheresville.
There they will be stuck. Unable to afford the commute, heat the house, or sell the house. Drowning in non-forgivable personal debt. Bitterly wondering how those SOBs who told them this was all unsustainable could be so right.
Not that they’ll see the light. In their down-time, they’ll cluster round the flatscreen listening to Bill O’Reilly explain how liberals did this to them, followed by Lou Dobbs explaining that it’s all immigrants’ fault. Some savvy commentator able to take it to a whole new level will get his own show explaining that it’s due to liberal immigrants.
Then a great moan will go up in the megachurches where the faithful will be portrayed as SUV-driving versions of Job, and all assembled will wonder why the Big Dude has forsaken them. Can’t He just smite all the oil-producing nations of the world, and maybe lower interest rates, too, please?
Our political class, noting the discontent in mall land and the diminishing trickle of tribute flowing upwards to themselves, will respond with daring bravery and vision: they’ll discover some new country that needs invading.
And then at last Ms. Gordon and all the other former RE peeps won’t have to worry about jobs. All will be well again.
I have to say I am happy to see the support of most people on this blog. I don’t usually post, and I can’t believe what I started when all I was doing was trying to make a small point. My last comment on this subject will be; when a company promises you something when they hire you, and 15 yrs in, they decide, no, you won’t get that pension, no you won’t have benefits, it is beyond wrong. So they did it to us. Who’s next? Truck drivers? There goes the Teamsters, because Jose and Juan are guest workers WITH a drivers license, and will haul your stuff for 10 an hour. So there goes Sara Lee, Coca Cola, UPS, Fed Ex, you name it. Someone will do your job for less. Absolutely. But just because they CAN, doesn’t make it right. My other point is this. The notion that immigration is going to keep this bubble going is nonsense, plain and simple. When you pay the lower wage to immigrants, they aren’t buying homes with ALL that money. They live 3 or 4 families to a house. I am not bashing immigrants, not at all. Bush acts like he is doing these people a favor, but in my book it is exploitation, pure and simple.