Mustering Up Enthusiasm For This Big Adventure
by ahansen
What has happened to the markets –or so we’re being told– is a recession; which, they say, has bottomed and is on its way to a slow recovery. But what has happened to We the People—those of us folks out here on the ground where the green shoots are supposed to be — is Depression with a capital D. And I don’t mean the financial one.
As any number of us un and under-employed here on the blog can tell you, being jobless is no picnic—especially when you’re facing a hugely uncertain future and trying to figure out how to care for yourself and your family. Being out of work when you need it is scary, and humiliating, and soul-numbing, and it’s becoming increasingly more prevalent among people who never thought it could happen to them– doctors, lawyers professors, and rocket scientists included.
With no job, no income, and rapidly dwindling assets, it’s no wonder there’s currently a two-to-six month waiting list for admittance into in-patient psychiatric facilities. (And that’s just for those with gold-plated medical insurance and still-intact investment funds.) Many more of us are living on the edge of despair, clutching at the faint hope that somehow, soon, all of this will turn around and things will get back to “normal.” But despite what we’re hearing from the federal cheerleaders, to all but the most gullible, that turnaround and all the new jobs promises, appears less likely with each chirpy proclamation.
Washington and the Titans of the G20 may go on, secure in the knowledge that their system will continue; with bailouts as necessary and their currencies intact. But for those of us left to clean up the results of their gross mismanagement and outright corruption, the realization that our rosy expectations and our hard-earned paychecks have both careened into a dead end brick wall is a nasty shock —and one from which many of us will never fully recover. We know viscerally that what we are experiencing is unprecedented in our lifetimes; that we are living an historic moment. But it is hard to muster up much enthusiasm for this big adventure when all we see around us is carnage.
John Mauldin offers an exceptional analysis of current Bureau of Labor Statistics in this week’s “Welcome to the New Normal,”
Among his conclusions are these tidbits:
“…And if you add… (to the standard unemployed and marginally attached workers who comprise the data,)… those who are employed part-time for economic reasons (i.e., they can’t get full-time jobs) the unemployment number rises to 16.8%.”
Note: Great Depression era statistics defined “unemployed” as anyone over the age of 16 not engaged in “full-time” work— rendering those 25% unemployment figures we’re all familiar with not quite so impressive when compared what we’re experiencing now in California, Ohio, etc.
And…
“…If you take the average job growth from 1989 until now, you get an average of 91,000 a month. If you take the best ten years I could find, which would be 1991-2000, the average is still only 150,000. That is a long way from 250,000… (new job creation per month we now need to get back to a 5% unemployment rate.”)
Note: (Per month job loss for 2009-to-date averages 481,000.)
The implication is that while we may see a structural economic recovery for a time, the reality for many of us is Hard Times Ahead for the foreseeable future.
Without strong employment, the best economic system in the world is useless. And the longer the numbers keep dropping, the harder it will be to pull ourselves out of the slump. As more and more people become unemployed, more and more businesses will fail from lack of consumer support, which of course leads to more unemployment….
The Great Depression weighed disproportionately upon the low-level industrial and farming classes. Today the one-two punch of unemployment and ever-rising layers of taxation, —overt and hidden— is hitting the suburban white collar and skilled labor demographic the hardest. Given the rapidly dwindling middle class, the secondary recession that will inevitably follow this temporary recovery may be more far reaching than even the most pessimistic of us here might wish to contemplate.
When Hoover was in office, Congress passed the Reconstruction Finance Bill to bail out the banks, the insurance companies, and the railroads. Today we have the Troubled “Assets” Relief Program to bail out the banks, the insurance companies and the housing industry. Both attempts to save American capitalism may come to similar ends if the current recovery is thwarted by ever-rising unemployment feeding upon itself.
Viable solutions to this dilemma are myriad and complex, but in one form or another they will have to involve putting Americans back to work in some constructive (if income diminished) capacity. Complicating the issue is the huge number of Baby Boomers aged 55+ who find they can no longer afford to retire and must remain in jobs that would typically go to the upcoming generation of younger workers. Paradoxically, until this older demographic begins to leave the marketplace en masse, full employment is unlikely.
One solution might be to incentivize two negative elements of our economy to create one positive one. The vast number of empty condos and housing tracts now essentially owned by the government (Fannie/Freddy/bank bailouts,) can be structurally modified (thus creating jobs,) and repurposed into multi-unit Section 8-like “projects” for housing the huge number of newly-impoverished suburbanites about to hit retirement age. In exchange for say, giving up their Social Security income, or a state or local government pension, retirees would be guaranteed a place to live out their days in relative comfort and security, with food services, health care, transportation, recreation etc. on site or clustered nearby. Millions of new service jobs would be created to staff these projects, and active seniors could be employed in providing daycare, light assembly work, staff assistance, consultancy etc. to the communities that they live in.
By clustering the housing, resources, equipment, and services in one place, needless duplication could be avoided, and the cost savings better utilized elsewhere—for example; subsidized taxis, on-call medical personnel, social and food services, community gardens, recreational and educational facilities, and family centers. When the Boomers go bye-bye, the projects can be turned into dorms for the kids doing their mandatory 2 years of national service. Or low-cost housing for migrant immigrant labor and struggling artists— or whatever Orwellian social construct is necessary in 2050.
That’s just one idea. I’m sure as a country of the soon-to-be chronic unemployed we can come up with lots more—maybe even a few that address some of the serious problems besetting us. I mean, Hey, as long as we’re not doing anything useful for awhile….
The last time we had a Great Depression, it took a World War to pull us out of it. Let’s hope that what’s created this time will turn out to be a war against unsustainable economic models, against an increasingly unlivable global environment, and against the impoverishment of mind, body and spirit spawned by those selfsame failed systems.
At least until we can all get back to work.
Excellent post.
These days, all that matters is that the rich can continue looting and getting bonuses for their criminal actions. The bribes, the “friends of Mozillo”, the buddies sitting on the boards of directors, the unpaid taxes (Timmy!), and the endless corruption… all of this defines the New Amerikan Way. For honest producers who try to follow the law, the path forward is going to be nothing but hardship with unemployment and underemployment, runaway costs in everything (and yet housing STILL will not drop low enough to be worth buying in many places), and new taxes.
I don’t see this improving, though the Powers That Be will quickly paper over this Recession (and the next one, and the one after that… and so on) and claim “Mission Accomplished!” while turning the spigots of greed back on at full blast. That’s nice for the Wall Street crooks abd DC scumbags, but the rest of us won’t get a dime out of this “jobless recovery.”
“These days, all that matters is that the rich can continue looting and getting bonuses for their criminal actions.”
Bbbbbbut but but…. We ‘need’ rich people…. and CEO’s too….. after all, they’ve ‘given’ us everything us peons have and could ever want.
Enough of this depressing stuff…..Khloe Kardassian is getting married…look at the smile on this guys face:
http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2009/09/25/2009-09-25_khloe_kardashian_to_ring_up_300000_in_wedding_deal.html
“Keel” all the rich and wealth chasers. Then see what type of society you get. Looks like Pol Pot’s to me.
In any event, you’ll never be one Bill so why the mis-directed sympathies?
Because they are the ones who make a job available for me.
But Bill,
You’re the one who makes a profit possible for them. It’s a 2-way street, ya know. I don’t think you’d be happy if your boss was caught committing fraud, he got a bonus for it, and that bonus was taken out of your paycheck, would you?
Nobody is saying that guys like Bill Gates, or Micheal Dell shouldn’t be rewarded for what they’ve done.
It’s just that idiots and Wall Street money churners are making stupid decisions, and are skimming outsized paychecks for making stupid decisions that have had the effect of throwing millions of their fellow citizens under the bus.
If every manufacturing company in the country announced on the same day that “we’re all moving our operations to China/India”, the Dow would break 15,000. As the past 18 months have illustrated, Wall Street is totally disconnected from Main Street, USA.
My former employer is hanging on by a thread, because of their acquisition in 2007 that “makes us profitable for the next ten years, no matter what the economy does” (while at the time, I’m disposing of all my holdings other than cash, because I could see what was coming).
Company went splat. Architects of the disaster still have jobs, or were fired and got new jobs.
I’m probably out of work until next spring at best.
I’d ask whats “fair” about it, but “….fair’s got nothin’ to do with it…..”
(Bitter old guy rant off…….)
I wrote this piece with you in the back of my mind, fixr. It took a lot of character to write about what you were experiencing leading up to and after being downsized from your career, and I think a lot of us here on the blog were gritting our teeth and wincing along with you as we waited for the inevitable axe to fall on us, too.
That you’ve obviously survived the initial shock, and are still posting about the fallout bodes well for all of us in similar circumstances, and we owe you a vote of thanks for your insights and impressions— and your willingness to share them with us.
I think a lot of us here on the blog were gritting our teeth and wincing along with you as we waited for the inevitable axe to fall on us, too.
Is this the bone that Big V is attempting to pick with you, AHansen?
Is your primary source of income something that you can be “axed” from?
Believe me, I mean you no ill-will or disrespect, but please tell me you’re not “wincing along” in anxiety over an event that cannot happen to you.
(If I were laid off tomorrow, I could survive for a year on savings and unemployment - if I moved to a 1-bedroom apt. and cut out all entertainment, probably a year. God forbid I get anything more serious than the flu)
I wrote this piece with you in the back of my mind, fixr. It took a lot of character to write about what you were experiencing leading up to and after being downsized from your career, and I think a lot of us here on the blog were gritting our teeth and wincing along with you as we waited for the inevitable axe to fall on us, too.
Yes.
And beautifully spoken, ahansen. As usual. Thanks.
Plus, I think he takes good care of his kids.
This is the second time I’ve been shown the door in five years. The last time I was let go, I was 6 months into a nasty divorce, so between knowing what to expect, and not having to worry about the kids as much, this one is easier to deal with.
The thing that aggravates me the most about my business, is that we’re the FIRST people to be thrown under the bus, when there’s an economic downturn. Doesn’t matter how well you are doing your job, or even if your company actually needs an airplane……half the time, you go for “symbolic” reasons. But the payscale is such that it’s extremely difficult (lectures from the HBB notwithstanding) to squirrel away enough cash to have a decent “rainy day” fund.
The best jobs in this business are always filled by somebody knowing somebody…….makes it tough to find work when about 30% of your “network” has been laid-off or cut back.
The thing that is the most frustrating, is that between the economy, and the natural business cycle in this business, I could easily be out of work until next spring. I’ve got my expenses reduced and enough money saved to keep my head above water for that long……….but it is frustrating for several reasons…….no spare cash to do anything, no garage anymore, so I can’t really get caught up on any of the projects I have, and the cash I had been saving to do some things with being bled away on just keeping the lights on. and then there’s the COBRA payment…….
At least I don’t work for the airlines. Those guys get hosed even worse than we do.
We have several industries that are essential to the operation of a First World economy, that are under the same types of money squeezes as aviation; I can only tell you that someone is going to pay the price eventually, for all this “keep it running with gum and baling wire” management we have around here.
I’d like to thank you, also, for sharing your experiences with us, GSfixer; and wish you all the best in your search for a new job. Good to hear this time is “better” than the last, but it is still very discouraging, I’m sure.
I think a lot of us here on the blog were gritting our teeth and wincing along with you as we waited for the inevitable axe to fall on us, too.
“Is this the bone that Big V is attempting to pick with you, AHansen?
Is your primary source of income something that you can be “axed” from?
Believe me, I mean you no ill-will or disrespect, but please tell me you’re not “wincing along” in anxiety over an event that cannot happen to you.”
Crickets, nothing but crickets. And telling.
Yeah right. If some imaginary illness took out all the “rich”, members of the upper middle class would move up and take their place. While the rich trumpet that they’re at the top due to ability, the reality is it’s about control. The next able group of hungry Americans will fill the void. Of that I have no doubt.
“Because they are the ones who make a job available for me.”
Only because slavery isn’t legal.
Don’t think that those monsters that run the game wouldn’t have us living in mud huts while begging for 1 bowl of rice a day if they could get away with it. For them, being rich isn’t any fun if there aren’t any peons to run over in their limo.
In exchange for say, giving up their Social Security income, or a state or local government pension, retirees would be guaranteed a place to live out their days in relative comfort and security, with food services, health care, transportation, recreation etc. on site or clustered nearby. Millions of new service jobs would be created to staff these projects, and active seniors could be employed in providing daycare, light assembly work, staff assistance, consultancy etc. to the communities that they live in.
By clustering the housing, resources, equipment, and services in one place, needless duplication could be avoided, and the cost savings better utilized elsewhere—for example; subsidized taxis, on-call medical personnel, social and food services, community gardens, recreational and educational facilities, and family centers. When the Boomers go bye-bye, the projects can be turned into dorms for the kids doing their mandatory 2 years of national service. Or low-cost housing for migrant immigrant labor and struggling artists— or whatever Orwellian social construct is necessary in 2050.
This sounds fascinating!
Like near-future sci-fi. “Welcome to the Boomer Dome”, or something.
It initially sounded frighteningly (in an exciting sort of way) socialist, but then I found myself wanting to read the novel.
There will be a novel, right R. A. (Heinlein) Hansen?
Don’t forget the subplot about Swingers’ Circle.
You two WiLL move into one with me, right?
Just trying to come up with some practical solutions to what promises to be a bigger and bigger social problem as Boomers hit our dotage.
You two WiLL move into one with me, right?
Ahansen, I’m only partially kidding. I just glimpsed a vignette of the near future from your proposal about empty housing and seniors (us?) exchanging SS bennies for food and shelter.
The glimpse I got was like a scene from the early part of a Cohen brothers film (before it gets gruesome) of this bright and shiny place where the oldsters are doing useful work in revamped housing and reminiscing about the bad old days of greed and consumption (not tuberculosis)
I want one of the surplus cargo ships.
Sounds better to me than checking into the Roach Motel!
I’ve already got the “Nerd Sanctuary” set up here in the mountains for my beautiful mind types, but am planning to build a dormitory-style bunkhouse or a few small cottages when everyone starts cashing out to retire.
Many of us lived in communes when we were starting out in our public lives, it only seems fitting (and economically rational,) that we return to them as we leave the workforce.
I want first dibs on a place with Olygal…….
She can have the upper bunk.
I want first dibs on a place with Olygal…….
She can have the upper bunk.
Okay, I’ll make a note of it.
*studiously makes a note of it *
But you should know that I sometimes get good ideas in the night and if that happens I will wake up and hang upside down off the top bunk like a bat, while I prod you awake in order to tell you all about my good idea.
Okay?
And then, as soon as you wake up and groggily say: ‘Wha..? Huh?’ Then I will say: ‘Tell you again in the morning’ and leap back up and flop myself back down and return to sound sleep in 5 whole seconds*.
But when that happens don’t get curious and wake me up to hear my good idea, because I might bite. After all, I need my sleep. You’ll just have to wait til morning.
*It’s really annoying, is what I hear.
If you get to be too much of a bother, I’ll jusy lay on my back, put my feet on the bottom of your mattress, lift your mattress up and kick it off the frame.
Or pull all the slats out, like Steve McQueen did in “The Great Escape”, so when you climb up and plop into your bunk……..
, so when you climb up and plop into your bunk……..
…I’ll fall right spang on top of you and promptly bite you a few times? And then rebuke you for disturbing my dreams? And then demand a pretty lullaby before drifting happily off to sleep again?
Sounds like a good night to me.
As long as ahansen doesn’t move in and bring her pet bear.
Nah, just my pet Remington 12 gauge.
“Nah, just my pet Remington 12 gauge.”
Wow, we actually have something in common. Model 870 Wingmaster, here. Lays waste to all of my friends Benelli’s.
It’s been two months that my 30/30 ammo has been on back order. They say all the ammo plants still are running extra shifts, especially the revolver ammo.It’s been that way since November 5,2008 !!!
It’s been two months that my 30/30 ammo has been on back order.
Please tell me you’ve been waiting by the mail-box this whole time. I don’t care—just lie to me. I’m thrilled that someone loves their ammo this much.
Also, I was thinking, I bet ahansen has two bear-head hats she wears around the place when she thinks no one is looking. Like to weed the garden and stuff.
Griz - I had the same thing for a long time with an extra tube (19″ barrel CYL choke) for home defense.
Now I’m down to a Browning A5 which is more than enough and no need to remember to pump between shots.
Pismo - I swear I saw .30-30 soft tips on the shelf at the sporting goods store in this area. Have you looked around at your local shops? What about cheaperthandirt.com?
Whatcha feeding them thru….a Model 92?
The stuff that is really short is the 9mm pistol rounds. The price for stuff that is available is ridiculous.
The guys making that are not noticing the recession/depression at all.
“Welcome to the Boomer Dome”……..more like welcome to Carousel (ie., Logan’s Run)!
My reaction to that was reflective of my “Fourth Turning” Gen X position.
The nomad archetype’s “burden is that they tend not to trust large institutions and do not have a strong connection to public life. They forge their identity and value system by “going it alone” and staying off the radar screen of government.”
Yup, that’s me. And maybe it’s personal but I also find a lot of us distrust the politics of large groups. So enjoy the commune living. I’ll stick to working my farmette while keeping my support network at arm’s length. : ) That’s my plan for maintaining the love.
“The nomad archetype’s ”
latch key kids
There will be globalwar again. Massive unemployment is a symptom of overpopulation, and overpopulation always leads to war.
It will be interesting to see who get’s demonized, and how. Will the US be the imperialist aggressor again? Who will be the hun this time?
AmazingRuss, I agree totally.
I think every problem the human race faces can be traced to over population.
As to who will win or lose I’m covering my bases and have a spanish and chinese tutor for my children so they can beg properly for my life to be spared if need be.
New York City is pretty overpopulated, yet it’s managed (key word here,) to keep from blowing itself up. And no one would argue that China in the 60’s wasn’t overpopulating unsustainably, yet they didn’t go to war on anyone either.
Not that I’m suggesting we don’t have way too many humans on this planet, just that war is not an inevitable outcome. Moreover, economic depression tends to depress birth rates as well, so this may be a blessing in disguise for all us less-than-zero-population growth types.
“no one would argue that China in the 60’s wasn’t overpopulating unsustainably, yet they didn’t go to war on anyone either.”
You’re joking, right? China in the 60s went through so-called “cultural revolution”, resulting in several million deaths. It was a war, albeit a civil one.
There is a difference between civil war and the systematic, mass extermination of cultural “undesirables.”
As to who will win or lose I’m covering my bases and have a spanish and chinese tutor for my children so they can beg properly for my life to be spared if need be.
———————-
Too funny, as we also have our kids in Mandarin and Spanish classes. Don’t think I haven’t pictured Chinese soldiers bursting into our house, and our kids talking them into sparing our lives!
Knowing languages is a good thing.
Massive unemployment is not a symptom of overpopulation. One sign of overpopulation might be massive underpayment for work done, but that could also be a sign of mismanaged resources. We may have overpopulation, I don’t know, but I’m just saying that you can’t draw that conclusion just from the unemployment thing.
“It will be interesting to see who get’s demonized, and how. Will the US be the imperialist aggressor again? Who will be the hun this time?”
My guess is Iran.
I am just cynical enough to believe that there are some who view overpopulation as a problem they can “solve” through applied nuclear physics and other means.
Perhaps a few dirty suitcase nukes wreaking death and destruction in New York and/or L.A. and/or Houston could trigger a full-blown nuclear response against Tehran. Especially if the State Sponsored Media had been laying out the “threat” and “evidence” far enough in advance.
Do I really think there are people with such evil intentions that they want millions of people dying from radiation?
I even think the same people had no problem with the current world wide economic depression, as the consequences help them acheive certain goals, as in:
1. Reduce the population
2. Weaken, terrify, destabilise, and disarm the masses
3. Make the survivors dependent on the New World Government and Armed Forces that assume control
4. Seize property and the means of production worldwide
5. Institute a New World Order, economic and monetary system
6. Install themselves as the Governing Elite with all economic, legal, media, military and police power.
Just IMHO. Obey Big Brother and do as you are told.
Have a nice day.
Cobalt…. I would do anything not to spend a day inside your head.
How have you made it x years of living and not thrown yourself off a bridge?
I’m of the opinion that “time is on our side”, as far as Iran is concerned.
They have a young population, and if the protests this year say anything, it’s that the kids aren’t drinking the mullah’s Kool-aid.
As far as Iranian nukes, it shouldn’t come as any surprise that they want them. One could make the argument that a lot of bloody conflicts were avoided 1945-1990, because the US and Russia were scared enough by each other’s nukes, that they acted as a deterrent from one sticking their noses too far in the other guys business.
One thing I’ve always found strange is that the leadership of the US Armed Forces (mostly conservative, Republican types) are fighting for the freedom of the liberal New York and California entertainment/media industrial complex to “influence other cultures”, when, culturally, they has more in common with the people they are fighting, than the people who’s “rights” they are fighting to protect.
…(mostly conservative, Republican types) are fighting for the freedom of the liberal New York and California entertainment/media industrial complex…
Just as curious as working-class people angry about an inheritance tax most of them will never have to pay.
-or income tax they will never have to pay…
-or “socialized medicine” because they think the govt will ration healthcare — as if the private, FOR-PROFIT companies aren’t already doing that to an even greater extent…
are fighting for the freedom of the liberal New York and California entertainment/media industrial complex to “influence other cultures”,
Thats why Boomers will start the next total war and its due. I think the bank melt down and Obamas election marked the begging of the 20 year winter period when wars are fought to the extreme, self acualzation becomes frowned on and team work is the new way.
read the “fourth turning”
Exeter, some here would ask that same question of you.
Exactly right ! Look at all the Tzars to control thought and ALL other facits of our life. Using the IRS as well to enforce the health bill fiasco. Now I read they will also put you in jail if you don’t do what they say. Hooray Acorn and the Chicago Hood (s).
You really need to research when the Tzars in government started and who had the most.
The Tzars started as monarchs centuries ago in Russia. Then they were wiped out in a people’s revolution, only to somehow return as 21st century American political figureheads. I suspect a combination of time travel and reincarnation.
Well our current president has the most. As to who started it, I don’t know but I suspect it must have been a republican or you wouldn’t have brought it up.
Sounds like we’ve read the same book regarding how to enslave the masses.
As I said before, most of the soulless monsters at the top of the pyramid scam of our eCONomy will not be happy until they can go out and shoot themselves a few commoners each day. Being rich, for them, isn’t any fun unless there are dirt poor people they can laugh at and then work for free.
Never let a good crisis go to waste.
“…overpopulation always leads to war.”
I nominate this patently false statement for most cynical remark ever on this blog.
“…overpopulation always leads to war.”
I can vouch for the veracity of this statement.
It happened every time my brother and I had to spend more than 60 seconds next to each other in the back seat of the Dodge.
“…overpopulation always leads to war.”
I can vouch for the veracity of this statement.
It happened every time my brother and I had to spend more than 60 seconds next to each other in the back seat of the Dodge.
HAhahahah!
Oh, dangit! I ejected valuable beer from my nostrils. Thanks a lot, lavi. That wasted at least 3 Tablespoons.
“…overpopulation always leads to war.”
I too can vouch for the veracity of this statement
Try five kids in a back seat of a 57 ford fighting each other for the window seats.
Those were the days.
Come to think of it, our kids got along really well until there were four of them. I changed my mind — overpopulation does always lead to war.
Don’t folks who are educated normally have fewer babies? Families of six are the domain of the poor and underclass. Shesh.
The Robis family is dying out since my only 1st cousin and myself refuse to breed. Y’all can thank me for doing my part to not overpopulate, leaving you with more available resources.
“Don’t folks who are educated normally have fewer babies? Families of six are the domain of the poor and underclass. Shesh.”
Yes. This is why “Idiocracy” is a documentary, not fiction.
“…overpopulation always leads to war.”
I blame eveything on the housing bubble
Peter Morici (U Maryland economist) said on Washington Journal on Sunday:
“The American economy has permanently contracted”
10% unemployment and 80s Euro style slow growth will be the norm.
It would be great to hear a convincing argument saying otherwise.
What level of unemployment would be the norm if we didn’t have tens of millions of illegal aliens competing for jobs?
Illegals driving Americans out of those all too lucrative fruit picking, painting, meat packing, landscaping jobs ? Say it isn’t so !
Illegals driving Americans out of those all too lucrative fruit picking, painting, meat packing, landscaping jobs ? Say it isn’t so !
Anecdotal, but I regularly ride the Las Vegas Strip early in the morning on bicycle. Recently, there’s been more white guys cleaning up around the fountains and fewer hispanics.
I just got back from a visit to the Great Lake state of Michigan. While on the University of Michigan campus, I did not see a single Hispanic working on the grounds crews. And I did quite a bit of tromping around North and Central Campus.
Agree with you on this one, lavi. The “tour busses” from TJ along I-5 are all but gone now, and the day labor sites in Bakersplat are abandoned. My “illegal” son tells me his eighty-seven cousins have all returned to Oaxaca and Baja leaving behind their houses (and mortgages,) because construction has dried up in the Central Valley.
Even the fruit harvest sucked this year because of the drought.
Border Patrol agent relative says that between the economy, a whole bunch of new Border Patrol officers, and the crackdown after the “execution” (his words) of the Border Patrol agent a few months ago, border crossings have slowed down a bunch.
Said the attempt last week to bum-rush the border crossing with 3 vans in San Diego (in broad daylight) was a sign that the smugglers are getting desperate……..he said “normally, they only try that crap on Third Shift…..”
(IMO) Next up…….a move on the pot-growers in Northern California (the first time they whack some innocent bystanders)
X-GSfxr, Obama cut the number of border patrol officers this year. His payoff to LaRaza and the cry baby liberal groups.
Fruit picking jobs used to be taken by American students on summer vacation. Meat packing jobs used to go to American convicts. Landscaping and housepainting jobs used to pay well enough for a guy to support himself (through college or through his life if he chose). That was how it worked before the Republicans decided that cheap, illegal labor was OK.
Big V:
Fruit picking jobs used to be taken by American….. Blacks in the south before section 8 welfare Food stamps.
Seriously…there really was very little foreign migrant workers back 30+ years ago…it was all done by the locals, or by contracting crews who would go from crop to crop all up and down the east coast. I worked for a tv station and I did some research for their stories on the poor living conditions in the camps and what these people endure.
Fruit picking jobs used to be taken by American….. Blacks in the south before section 8 welfare Food stamps.
Dammit. There was a big movie based on a novel about that just a few years ago.
C’mon memory, don’t make me use the Google again!
Something about an Apple Orchard and kids going off to war (WWII) and romance etc, etc.
DJ
On the Yeast coast, maybe.
Here in California migrant labor from Mexico has been an integral part of the economy since before the US was the US. In fact, 160 years ago, California WAS Mexico.
Cider House Rules
CA is not MX anymore. Remember the role of the illegals in Grapes of Wrath? Middle- and lower-class people do not defend the hiring of illegals. Only upper-classmen (and women), who benefit (albeit temporarily) from cheap labor will be found defending this practice.
Like “Prositution has been a part of world history for a long time. Therefore, we should allow it.”
Ummm…. no.
Cider House Rules
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
Thank you.
“Like “Prositution has been a part of world history for a long time. Therefore, we should allow it.”
Ummmmm….yeah actually we should. Far more damage is cause by it being illegal. It’s not just a part of world history, it’s human history.
Places, particularly third world nations, where it has been legalized see a very noticeable drop in violent acts committed against prostitutes, if for no other reason than that they can now REPORT these crimes without fear of being prosecuted themselves.
In Nevada, HIV is almost non existent among state licensed prostitutes.
You might check out http://www.fff.org/freedom/1293e.asp . It’s a bit old, but has the basic facts straight.
Not to mention, it goes against the very idea of being free to control your own body, or as Carlin so eloquently put it, “Selling’s legal. F*cking’s Legal. Why isn’t selling f*cking legal?”
SR
Yeah, illegal prostitution causes the problem of violence against willing tutes, but legal prostitution aids the breakdown of the nuclear family and increased white slavery.
illegal prostitution causes the problem… For some people, being barred by law from eating human meat & dominating slaves is an infringement on their freedom.
Traditionally, fast food jobs were for teenagers saving for college and get some experience. Now they are reserved for illegals.
Except lately………I’m noticing that the wait staff of low end/fast food restaurants, and the quality of the Wal-Mart help has improved significantly.
The local Wally-world has replaced a bunch of their meth-heads with a bunch of late fifties/sixties-something un-retirees.
“The local Wally-world has replaced a bunch of their meth-heads with a bunch of late fifties/sixties-something un-retirees.”
I wonder how many of those tweakers are actually dirt napping now. You can see those zombies coming from a mile away. Who would ever want to use that crap is beyond me. Loss of teeth, sunken eyes, baritone cackle, nervous tics, weight loss, hair loss, fried brain- oh yeah, sign me up…
I saw something the other day that took me back to my childhood- completely blew me away- it was an honest to God Japanese gardener- an older gentleman, reminded me of when if you had a gardener, they really took care of your yard,trimming and feeding your plants, not just a mow and blow like current incompetents. I also remember house painters, construction workers and roofers that knew what they were doing and would do quality work and could make a decent living at it, unlike the unlicensed illegals out there now doing slipshod work for “cheap”. I don’t buy that b/s line they’re doing the jobs Americans “won’t” do- I think Americans will do the work, just not for the slave wages and working conditions that an illegal (who really has no other choice) will do it for. You get what you pay for, though- when you pay peanuts for wages you get monkeys for workers…
Amen. I look at all the jobs that were done by Americans when I was growing up in Missouri, but are mostly done by illegals in California. Americans can and will do those jobs, but can’t or won’t for slave wages. Businesses that hire illegals should be fined heavily and their owners/executives imprisoned for repeated violations.
“…construction workers and roofers that knew what they were doing and would do quality work and could make a decent living at it, unlike the unlicensed illegals out there now doing slipshod work for “cheap”.”
At a friends house recently, I noticed he was struggling mightily to open up his single garage door (next to the double). He had just purchased the nearly new place within the past year (another story in and of itself) and, as it turns out, the track was installed incorrectly. The door was rubbing against the side of the house, scraping all of the stucco off while gouging the cheap, thin metal door (which could be cut open with a butter knife). Slipshod is right.
Absolutely agree, SDGreg and socaljettech!
My husband comes from a family of old-school, union construction workers. They were making $20-$30/hr+ back in the 80s. These were journeyman carpenters and highly-skilled iron workers, etc. They did quality work that lasted many decades.
Isn’t it funny that the wages of these workers has gone down by over half (because most of it’s done by no/low-skill illegals), and the quality now sucks…but it costs 3-5X more to buy a house!?!
I’m not seeing any “benefit” from bringing in all these illegal workers.
Isn’t it funny that the wages of these workers has gone down by over half (because most of it’s done by no/low-skill illegals), and the quality now sucks…but it costs 3-5X more to buy a house!?!
You’re quite right and it’s really not that odd at all. I look at all the basic jobs - lawn care, landscaping, painting, etc. that used to be done by ordinary Americans at a decent, not bloated wage. Where did the wage savings go by hiring illegals? Did we get higher quality or lower costs? Or did any savings go to line the pockets of greedy business owners who used part of those ill-gotten profits to buy politicians to allow those practices to continue?
I somehow survived growing up without having an illegal nanny or having an illegal to do my lawn. Maybe we’ll return to that during/after this depression. And if some of us did a little manual labor from time to time, maybe more of us would be a little healthier too.
Amen, Greg.
I’m not seeing any “benefit” from bringing in all these illegal workers.
you’re not a CEO of a construction business or slaughter house, corporate farmer , Walmart etc.
What jobs? They don’t apply for any in the corp. world. Do you mean fruit and veggie picking? The ones that Americans refuse to do?
Look around your grocery stores, your factories, your retail stores, your construction sites, your restaurants, your gas stations, your car washes, your nurseries, look, look, look around. Your must be f***ing blind. Sure they’re service jobs, but not everyone’s a corporate d*ck sucker.
BS!
You should see how many Americans go to the u-pick here and pick their own fruit/veggies. And the only pay you get is a lower price.
What level of unemployment would be the norm if we didn’t have tens of millions of illegal aliens competing for jobs?
they will be kicked out as the Recession deepens, happened last time “Graphs of Wrath time” and will happen again then if war starts they will be moving to get workers back in country just like last time.
I expect a trade war soon at any rate
Well I’m 60 and I wish somebody would take my job. Please! I would be just so, so sorry, not.
The biggest lemons in the US right now are all these foreclosed (or soon to be) properties. You know what they say about lemonaid.
It’s really sour?
Dateline -San DIego. There is still massive fraud in the Cal. real estate market. I spoke with a commercial appraiser on Sat. who was hired to appraise a N. Cal. property owned by a large bank which owned the property at $40 mill. He came back stating that it would not even approach $20 mill. He was promptly fired and an in-house appraiser attacked his methodology in support of the $40 mill loan. The shadow inventory of residential that is being held back by the banks is staggering. And our local law enforcement district atty. splashes closures of marijuana dispensaries across the front pages while the mortgage fraud continues unabated.
“The shadow inventory of residential that is being held back by the banks is staggering.”
And it’ll be increasing dramatically starting next spring as the Alt-A and Option-ARM resets get underway. The shadow inventory will be too big and expensive to hide next summer.
“The shadow inventory of residential that is being held back by the banks is staggering.”
1) Is this based on individual banks’ decisions to withhold inventory, or is there collusion involved?
2) Is it legal?
3) Is the government involved (legally or illegally — as though the law applied to government housing authorities…)?
IMHO, there is collusion; it’s probably not legal; and the govt is involved.
“and the govt is involved.”
yes I think the government traded treasuries for the notes on all the “questionable properties” trillons I think ?
Maybe they will re-distribute the properties to thoses more worthy ? And the tax payers can try and pay back the trillon if the banks can’t ? See how that works out ?
No, you can use child slaves to make it and sell it, while you sit back in your porn-surfing chair eating cheetos and drinking the sticky refreshment. The Chinese ain’t got nothin’ on us.
LOL.
we need to harvest the child slave’s organs so we live long enough to see our RE portfolio break even…
I still fail to understand how it can be in banks’ individual interests to collectively sit on 7 million foreclosures, rather than trying to unload them. Do they buy into the Fed’s claptrap signals that they are going to somehow reflate the housing market, or that the economy will somehow strongly rebound next year, despite the collapsed financial, construction and retail sectors, not to mention the deep brown flood waters of debt which are drowning the green shoots? Or do they believe they will be able to indefinitely postpone recongizing their housing market gambling losses?
Housing Crash to Resume on 7 Million Foreclosures, Amherst Says
By Jody Shenn
Sept. 23 (Bloomberg) — The crash in U.S. home prices will probably resume because about 7 million properties that are likely to be seized by lenders have yet to hit the market, Amherst Securities Group LP analysts said.
The “huge shadow inventory,” reflecting mortgages already being foreclosed upon or now delinquent and likely to be, compares with 1.27 million in 2005, the analysts led by Laurie Goodman wrote today in a report. Assuming no other homes are on the market, it would take 1.35 years to sell the properties based on the current pace of existing-home sales, they said.
…
Sweet. The shadow inventory in and of itself has grown to over a year. Definitely not a balanced market. This sucker’s going down.
“With no job, no income, and rapidly dwindling assets, it’s no wonder there’s currently a two-to-six month waiting list for admittance into in-patient psychiatric facilities.”
Reference, please? And is this abnormally high compared to the normal waiting time?
Personal anecdote, Prof. The ex went off his meds again and I called the usual in-patient facilities for a bed. Nothing open. So I called the CMA’s impaired physicians hotline and was told that (in California, at least,) unless it was an involuntary admit by law-enforcement, things were really tight right now…huge State funding cutbacks, and lots of financial types with suicidal ideation and large cash deposits.
lots of financial types with suicidal ideation and large cash deposits
the hotline told you that?
Yeah, to move the plot forward.
Not officially….
Actually the hotline is defunct now, too—although the staffer lives on in another iteration.
Hope that your ex-spouse is able to get into treatment. Sad stuff.
Thank you, zilker. Bi polar is a real mind mess for everyone in the family. Like living in two alternate realities in addition to he real one. And because he’s an MD he’s able to weasel around all the involuntary admit regulations, and use the “authority of his credentials” to intimidate all those who don’t know he’s off is rocker. Literally FIVE police officers let him go home after he was reported sleeping in his office girl’s home living room one night. Her husband wasn’t all that pleased, and the wife was hysterical to find him there…. But it’s a $5,000 CASH, not credit card, deposit up front before a one week evaluation–and that doesn’t even cover the doctor’s fees, the meals or the drugs.
“Paradoxically, until this older demographic begins to leave the marketplace en masse, full employment is unlikely.”
This was the story in the wake of the early-1990s recession as well — folks who would have rather been retired were holding on to their jobs to replace lost accumulated wealth.
In many upper middle class sectors the jobs will disappear when the boomers retire. Law, consulting and accounting firms will have fewer partners. University professors will retire and be replaced by non-tenure track positions. I imagine many productive middle managers will be downsized without good options, and wealth will continue to be concentrated in fewer and fewer people.
Yup. The Baby Boomers will get to retire from a life of bloated salaries, and then their kids will have the pleasure of working harder for less money to make up for it.
You guys are just too positive! Where are the dark clouds?
global warming burned ‘em off
Yup. The Baby Boomers will get to retire from a life of bloated salaries, and then their kids will have the pleasure of working harder for less money to make up for it.
And those behind them have had the joy of cleaning up the Boomers myriad messes. Bad economy/unemployment or not, the faster some are gone the better.
“Yup. The Baby Boomers will get to retire from a life of bloated salaries, ”
I think the system will go bust and the Boomers will start a war, their kids will get to fight it
Its the silent Generation that got away with pensions and easy living but they are all over 70 now and won’t be around when SS crashes and burns.
Till you stop outsourcing don’t expect full employment. It’s about how much people are paid and who is willing at or below poverty level to survive.
Many European countries are trying to get handle on outsourcing now the economy has slowed/stopped.
Too true…
“The Great Depression weighed disproportionately upon the low-level industrial and farming classes. Today the one-two punch of unemployment and ever-rising layers of taxation, —overt and hidden— is hitting the suburban white collar and skilled labor demographic the hardest.”
From Yahoo:
“US income gap widens as poor take hit in recession”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090928/ap_on_go_ot/us_census_income_gap
Ahansen wouldn’t know about that, though. Too many surgeons and what not providing her support. She probably considers herself “poor” because her son got a smaller bonus this year or something.
It is forgivable to be stupid. It is forgivable to be offensive. To be glaringly stupidly offensive is too much.
Oh, haven’t you been reading? Ahansen is the well-kept daughter, girlfriend, wife, and mother of well-paid and generous men, typically of the physician ilk. She hasn’t worked in 30 years or so, so she’s right when speaks of having “very little income”, but that’s OK because she’s always been supported in comfortable fashion by someone else.
She really doesn’t know what it means to be poor. That’s why some get a little impatient with her attempts to identify.
You really don’t like women who are just as intelligent or more intelligent than you.
What you posted about ahansen is just as bad as some of our male posters say about women.
Some folk’s resentments are exceeded only by their presumptions. This is not the forum.
Some folk’s resentments are exceeded only by their presumptions.
I have met both Ahansen and Big V.
They both seem like nice, intelligent people.
I don’t understand the animosity.
I am saddened.
Well, SFBayGal, those are all things that Ahansen posted about herself. Not so sure it’s a sign of intelligence to post a lot of details about your personal life and then try to misrepresent yourself.
And the sexist thing? She’s the one who posted an article where she lambasted women for having a nesting instinct and “wheedling” houses out of our otherwise innocent husbands. Never mind all those ads out there for houses with a “He-man’s garage” and what not. Once again, not a sign of intelligence.
Ahansen:
If you want to speak to me, speak directly to me, not to “some people”. Furthermore, if you can’t stand the heat, then please get out of the kitchen. This is a public forum, so what you say here will be hashed out publicly. No one is going to e-mail you personally to discuss the topics you bring up. No one is going to e-mail Ben and ask whether or not we can write a guest post that may oppose yours. What you post here is fair game.
Just as you have been allowed to freely criticize and offend others, you are now being freely criticized and offended. Welcome the world outside of priviledge.
I think I share BigV’s disgust regarding feigned poverty. It’s kind of like walking out of a buffet, stuffed, then telling the starving bum on the sidewalk that you feel his pain. Bad form, if anything.
As has been stated several times before, Ben’s blog is not the place to address the specifics of my personal life or how I’ve lived it over the years. Nor can I be responsible for any misreading of my posts, faulty assumptions, or erroneous conclusions drawn from the small snippets of a hugely diverse life experience I’ve shared here. Regardless of one’s preconceptions or personal issues, ad hominem attacks are simply inappropriate in a community forum like this one, and out of respect for our host, I refuse to participate in them.
I think that the tendency to believe what we want to believe and fit small pieces of information into a definitive narrative of our making is precisely why so many people have found themselves in the dire situations they’re in today.
Sure Ahansen, go ahead and continue to post “snippets” of your personal life, combined with editorial-style articles that practically scream out “CONTROVERSY”, and then imply that your unimpressed readership is actually illiterate to the point of self destruction.
You have the right to be offended, my dear.
Hey we’re being schooled by our betters, Big V. Listen up and take notes!
“I don’t understand the animosity.”
I get it. The frustrations of the economic situation at hand are driving normally civil people to lash out at one another for no good reason. I admit to having been guilty of such behavior myself on recent occasions.
Looks like my response to this got eaten, Grizz, so pardon if this is a repost.
The overwhelming number of homeowners, 401(k) and IRA holders, people expecting to receive pensions, and small business owners are white collar middle class and above. While the poor are obviously affected, as are we all, they are not changing from one social demographic to another.
For an excellent discussion of this topic, see Benjamin Schwarz’s article in this month’s Atlantic magazine, “Life in (and After) Our Great Recession.”
I would argue that the impact of losing our country’s middle class will have a more significant long-term affect on our social structure than our poor getting poorer—at least as regards the general readership of this blog…for whom I am writing.
Perhaps you should contact Ben about doing a piece on the impact of the housing bubble upon the poor? It’s obviously a topic about which you are passionate and informed, and I for one would be interested to read your take on the subject.
I like the poor more than the rich. I’ve been surrounded by more rich than poor. The poor are more rich, and the rich are quite poor- in character.
Yep, decadent, weakened by others’ support, with exotic neuroses.
The PTB will offer tax incentives to the corp. world to start hiring again. (And/Or they will heavily tax corporations who outsource).
I do think things are bad, after all, I am on unemployment myself. But I can’t (or don’t want to) believe that things will get THAT dire. I believe that a seismic change has occurred in our thinking regarding what is now important, and this is not a bad thing. Hopefully that sense of entitlement that ‘we’ have will be banished for good.
On a positive note, I am getting calls about work. It seems like some companies wanted to wait until summer was over, so hopefully hiring will improve until the holiday season. Then I’m afraid it will stagnate (except for seasonal work) until mid January.
I believe things will be that dire. I have never in my life had so many friends, family, and acquaintances struggling financially due to a loss of income. Factor in 30-40 million illegal aliens who drive down wages much thanks to crooked politicians who don’t enforce border security and labor laws, and who encourage and reward financial and economic terrorism, and you’ve got a recipe for the lowest standard of living we’ve seen in generations. I’m hoping to join an angry march at some point.
“Factor in 30-40 million illegal aliens who drive down wages” Such hogwash, keep blaming immigrants for your problems and sit at home collecting unemployment while they outwork you toiling in low paying jobs spoiled Americans won’t take.
while they outwork you toiling in low paying jobs spoiled Americans won’t take.
Ah, nostalgia…
I recall when I was a wee lass in southern Utarr. I lived in a small town in the rural wilderness with a various orchards here and there, and I remember watching the workers toil throughout the growing seasons. When I was a very wee lass I noticed that the regular workers, local teens out of school for the summer, and a few older blue-collar type folks, were being slowly replaced by Hispanic workers, mostly older men. I didn’t understand or pay attention at the time, it was just another mystery in an incomprehensible world, but later I learned why this should be:
Because when growers hire American citizens they had to pay attention to work-place safety, ensure proper training for equipment use, keep track of overtime and workman’s comp, worst of all, pay that pesky minimum wage thingie.
When you hire illegals allllll those annoying problems go far, far away….
Oh, and by the way, I have heard of a few local folks who would take any job they could. Any job. So they ain’t that spoiled.
Because when growers hire American citizens they had to pay attention to work-place safety, ensure proper training for equipment use, keep track of overtime and workman’s comp, worst of all, pay that pesky minimum wage thingie.
When you hire illegals allllll those annoying problems go far, far away….
Excellent observation.
Why, just today, American Apparel has announced it’s firing 1,800 workers at their LA factory, because the Feds in the area are cracking down on undocumented workers. Anyone care to guess whether the replacement workers will get more or less in the way of wages and benefits?
Thank you Oly- soo true-there have been quite a few car washes busted here in SoCal that either weren’t paying their “workers” (slaves) the minimum wage, or were making them work for tips alone. Everything you say and more is true- the business advantages of not complying with OSHA rules, taxes deducted from paychecks but not paid to the Government, or taxes paid for services that are uncollectable (like SS or unemployment). I have worked at Taco Bell, as a janitor, in a warehouse, and eventually went back to school and got my A & P license so I could work on airplanes and have something besides a dead end job. However, all of those “dead end” jobs taught me important lessons I have carried with me all my life-humility may have been the most important lesson I ever learned. I just don’t buy that line Americans won’t do the work- they will if the pay is reasonably fair and the job is safe.
I just don’t buy that line Americans won’t do the work- they will if the pay is reasonably fair and the job is safe.
It’s utter nonsense, isn’t it? We can, and we have, and we will.
Why, just today, American Apparel has announced it’s firing 1,800 workers at their LA factory, because the Feds in the area are cracking down on undocumented workers. Anyone care to guess whether the replacement workers will get more or less in the way of wages and benefits?
Probably less. If they can’t use illegal labor, they’ll outsource to another country instead. Is it even about being profitable or instead more about being obscenely profitable in order to pay obscene executive bonuses?
Is it even about being profitable or instead more about being obscenely profitable in order to pay obscene executive bonuses?
———————-
Hmmm….I wonder which it is?
(as if we even need to ask, right?)
Ummm yeah College degree to be a Bus boy or a Airport Ramp agent, you gotta be kidding me…
plus factor in so many jobs today REQUIRE you to be bi-lingual even in LAW OFFICES
—————————————
while they outwork you toiling in low paying jobs spoiled Americans won’t take.
If we got rid of welfare, earned income credit, food stamps, free health care, and education you would be surprised and those dead beats would be picking fruit. Oh, and regarding child credit, the illegas and trailer trash would not get subsidies for having illigitable spawn. Boy, i feel better now. I think I’ll get out my guns and oil them up for the riots and to be ready to protect my family and the neighborhood.
and trailer trash would not get subsidies for having illigitable spawn.
That’s a mouthful.
I really like that “illigitable”. I’m going to use that in a sentence real soon. Right after I decide what I think I want it to mean.
“I really like that “illigitable”. I’m going to use that in a sentence real soon. Right after I decide what I think I want it to mean.”
It’s screaming “angry Repub” to me.
“Such hogwash, keep blaming immigrants for your problems and sit at home collecting unemployment while they outwork you toiling in low paying jobs spoiled Americans won’t take.”
I didn’t Rush Limbaugh was posting here.
Hey fatboy, got Oxycontin?
“Such hogwash, keep blaming immigrants for your problems and sit at home collecting unemployment while they outwork you toiling in low paying jobs spoiled Americans won’t take.”
I didn’t Rush Limbaugh was posting here.
I can’t stand Rush or any of those other right-wing entertainers, but I’ll never forget the day I was sitting at a signal in Phoenix and, in front of me, was a filthy 30-something caucasian guy with a cardboard sign reading, “Will work for food”. A couple of hundred yards behind him were a half-dozen hispanic guys jumping into the bed of a pickup in a Home Depot parking lot.
That was a Pulitzer moment…
and, in front of me, was a filthy 30-something caucasian guy with a cardboard sign reading, “Will work for food”. A couple of hundred yards behind him were a half-dozen hispanic guys jumping into the bed of a pickup in a Home Depot parking lot.
Now, THIS is why I’m so conflicted on the subject. Exactly this sort of scene.
I’ve seen how folks, good folks, get to live in rural and remote Mexico. It ain’t no life. I’d be heading north like a comet, myself. You could see the sparks spitting up from my shoes, is how fast I’d be going.
But yet, as I posted yesterday, illegal immigration brings a host of grievous problems to this country. And these are not trivial problems, either.
“…in front of me, was a filthy 30-something caucasian guy with a cardboard sign reading, “Will work for food”. A couple of hundred yards behind him were a half-dozen hispanic guys jumping into the bed of a pickup in a Home Depot parking lot.
That was a Pulitzer moment…”
Ever tried hanging drywall by yourself?
*no me gusta*
That sort of thing looks different than it is, though. Those “southern” dudes can earn less than minimum wage, stay here for 5 years living like dogs, send 1/3 of their pay back home (where their family will use the money to buy a nice house, pay for good educations, etc), and then return when they get old/caught/sick of living like a dog, etc. It’s currency arbitrage and nothing else.
V, I’m not disagreeing with you. But you see the way this is going. Arbitrage is usually a momentary advantage, until the ‘other guy’ catches on. IMHO, with your observation, I see which way our capital formation, our jobs, and our living standards must go.
Spoiled, you say? I must assume you are a fruit picker who works for 6 dollars an hour? Or are you one of the spoiled ones?
I’m sure the illegals are often very hard workers. That doesn’t mean they’re not driving down wages.
I think the Alantic Magazine article wasn’t accurate. The GD was really, really bad. My bias is based on “America’s Great Depression” a book by Murray N. Rothbard, and Amity Shlaes’s book “The Forgotten Man”.
Mr. Allen wrote about the roaring 20’s in his book “Only Yesterday”, and then a follow up book about the GD years.
I have never in my life had so many friends, family, and acquaintances struggling financially due to a loss of income.
Ditto. And I don’t even hear all the stories, either. People still trying hard to keep up face and all, barely, just barely hanging on…
I’m hoping to join an angry march at some point.
Shoots, Grizz, let’s start one right now. This is Olympia, after all. Parades/angry marches/riots/protest combos are a local hobby, much like crocheting and stamp-collecting are in other places.
Why, I sometimes accidentally start a parade/riot/angry march just going to get a bagel, is how attuned and ready the local populace is. And I approve of this, because an angry march gets you out in the nice fresh air and is a wholesome and energizing activity. Way better than crocheting. With crocheting you only end up with doilies.
Shoots, Grizz, let’s start one right now. This is Olympia, after all.
I bought a six pack of Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale. This is a bold and satisfying beverage. Thanks for raving on and on about NoPac beers.
Just thought I’d let you know.
a six pack of Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale. This is a bold and satisfying beverage.
Just like me!
…Especially the ‘pale’ part.
Sigh. And I’m about to get a whollllle lot paler. (The rains are coming.)
Anyway, I’m very glad you tried it and liked it, lavi. I exist only to serve, as you know.
“Thanks for raving on and on…”
Yeah, thanks.
“Thanks for raving on and on…”
I’m going to ignore your sarcasm, slothy, because I perceive a thirsty spirit in need of refreshment and replenishment.
Slothy, Brother Slothy, have you ever accepted the miracle of PNW beers into your life? Are you ready for a greater understanding? Have you ever wondered if life could hold more meaning?
…Oh, wait, hold on a tick. I need a new bottle. I’ll be back right away.
Gimme some recommendations…I’m always looking for a miracle. (last time I had a Pyramid apricot ale they’d ruined it)
(last time I had a Pyramid apricot ale they’d ruined it)
Well, that’s a given. Go ahead and drink anything and it will be better. Including the bartenders p*ss. Especially if it’s a PNW’s bartender’s p*ss.
But I digress.
A Pyramid Apricot Ale is what you based your experience of PNW beers upon?!
Look, why don’t you give me what you recall of your experience of Ales. Then I’ll know what you like and can go accordingly.
PS. I’m drinking a nano-brew right now. I call it: ‘End of Summer Boo-Hoo Beer That I Brewed in My Laundry-Room’.
It’s pretty good.
(hic)
I was told Pyramid apricot ale was the apex of PNW beermaking. Is this not so? (I drank Olympia as a tot, stealing the mini-cans from my friend’s dad’s beer fridge. Tasted like coors.)
I thought Olympia was the cat’s meow …?
Aren’t PNW’ers teetotalers anyway? I mean, you gotta have room for all that overpriced coffee, and be ready to sea kayak at a moment’s notice.
I was told Pyramid apricot ale was the apex of PNW beermaking.
What?! By whom? The ex-boyfriend of your current girlfriend, that’s whom, is what I suspect. Go kill them for me, would you please? I’ll pay you back in kind later, if it looks like it’s a handy situation.
No, no—apricot ale is not poisonous. You won’t die or anything. Probably. I don’t mean to suggest anything so drastic.
But we have such good water, and such good hops, and such good…
…oh, my goodness! It just came to me. Now that I think of it, I bet anything I’ve got that a GIRL told you that apricot ale was the apex of PNW beermaking! Hahahahah! Come on! Confess!
And after you confess, we’ll go from there.
Oh, golly, it is all made clear to me, now…
yeah…girls made me drink it, damn them and their wiley ways ( they make me do everything)
p.s. I killed them all like you said. Now what? Cold apricot ale?
and be ready to sea kayak at a moment’s notice.
Obviously sea-kayaking is way better when you’re drunk. Otherwise you might get anxious and bang your paddle around and then fall in and drown.
And lookit me? Am I drowned? No?
Well, then. There you go, huh huh huh.
Comment by alpha-sloth
2009-09-29 19:56:57
yeah…girls made me drink it, damn them and their wiley ways ( they make me do everything)
p.s. I killed them all like you said. Now what? Cold apricot ale?
I feel sincere sympathy for you, because this is a common predicament, and one that I used to be a part of, back when I was ignorant and evil, but No! No, I say! Spit it right out. No apricot ale for you. In fact, never, ever drink any fruit flavored beer.
Don’t listen to girls about beer*. Beer is supposed to taste like beer, and not like a horrible concoction of fake fruit overlaid upon a long-suffering fluid composed of brutalized barley.
* Except for me.
No pumpkin spice ale? What a cold, grey world you inhabit…Do you wear horsehair undies? Take ice-cold showers?
I have a lot of thoughts about proper brewing, obviously, and I believe that American girls, or women, have been tainted by the ‘wine-cooler plus fake-fruit’ effect.
I’ll try to calm down.
No pumpkin spice ale?
That’s totally different. Don’t be silly.
Well, okay, go ahead and be silly. But no fake fruit flavors in your silliness. I’m really quite on a tear right now about fake fruit flavors.
That’s because I’m gearing myself up to make some real hard cider this month, and I understand that I could explode or be transported to Mars or something. It’s a big step for me, so I’m emotional and kind of on edge regarding brewing.
I agree american girls are tainted, but what can ya do? (drinks apricot ale ruefully) I’d love to hear your brew theories sometime, but I live in the eastern time zone, and I’m going to bed. (Will your cider be fruit flavored?)
I’m a Rob Roy gal, none of that fruity, head-ache inducing fruity alcohol for me!
i am a corporate tax professional. we canceled one of our largest tax incentive programs to save cash flow for operations.
when corporations are not in a taxable position (and we want be for quite sometime) there is no need for those tax incentives.
On a positive note, I am getting calls about work.
Hey Pot Buyer, aren’t you a software developer?
I’m seeing lots more openings for what I do (LAMP*) in CA on Dice.
*Linux Apache MySQL Perl/PHP
http://www.dice.com
Lavi -
Do you think that is because of general economic trends, or are companies finally starting to realize that they can reduce the tribute paid each year to the Redmond overlords?
I’ve done web work since 1995. There was a time when you just had to know how to use Front Page. (Yecchh!) And thank dawg that time has come and gone.
Ditto for ASP. That was de rigueur back in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The .Net thingie was supposed to take its place, but, ya know what? It doesn’t seem to have taken the Internet by storm.
In my world, content management systems like WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla! are all the rage. All three are open source.
You just set off my trip wire - .NET. Gaaaah!
I’m an independent controls engineer and programmer and I’m still writing new applications in VB6. Interfaces in my work are migrating to various standard and custom TCP socket protocols, HTTP, SOAP, etc. So simple and easy to integrate into the old trusted compiled VB.
All I need is to begin migrating my front ends to browswer-based interfaces and MS is totally irrelevant at that point. VB6 is growing a bit long in the tooth but shop floor people don’t care for the latest jazz, anyway.
In my world, content management systems like WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla!
Drupal! Part of my stack!
(How the heck do you pronounce Drupal, though? That’s been driving me nuts. Is it Drew-Paul or Druple like in quadruple?)
I’m still writing new applications in VB6.
You have my deepest sympathy.
Does VB have a “wait” or “pause” or “sleep” built-in function yet?
Most of the people I know pronounce “Drupal” like the second and third syllables of “quadruple.”
Thanks but no thanks for the sympathies, I’m still having a blast with it. API calls handle sleep and most other non-native functions.
To move up to a “real” language and still provide most of the services that I currently do, I would have to invest about $20K out of pocket, about and 3-6 months of re-training. I’m an independent, I don’t have corporate money to waste on that kind of stuff. Plus, I’d rather be working on real projects instead of infrastructure and synergies, or whatever they call it today.
To move up to a “real” language and still provide most of the services that I currently do, I would have to invest about $20K out of pocket…
I don’t write in a “real” language either - if by “real” you mean “compiled”, but I’d hate to live in a world without vi, grep, sed and awk.
Glad you’re enjoying yourself then.
And the lack of “sleep” I think is just VBA - I just like bitching about it.
OT “Golden Oldies” question for all you tech guys……
My laptop doesn’t have a “serial port” I need one to download engine trend data from this airplane I tinker with on occasion.
Currently, we have the download program on an old laptop one of the pilots owns that has a serial port. But this requires him to come out to the airport when I’m out there (inconvenient).
(There is still quite a bit of stuff like this still out there in the aviation business……….mainly because (unlike the guys in Redmond) the FAA won’t allow software to be used until the manufacturer has demonstrated that it is pretty much bullet-proof)
My laptop doesn’t have a “serial port” I need one to download engine trend data from this airplane I tinker with on occasion.
This might do the trick:
http://www.usbserial.com/765288.html
“You just set off my trip wire - .NET. Gaaaah!”
my company busted its ballz in 3 consecutive solicitations to get a big federal contract that insisted on either .net…some consultant or other just thought it was da sh!t, but no vendor was offering anything like that. Yet their agencies had seen our apps and loved them the way they were.
Freaking morons.
+1 to lavi’s suggestion.
I use them every day that I’m working with instruments and never had a problem, after installation the computer interacts with the virtual COM port in an identical manner to a real physical COM port.
This converter might be cheaper. I used to have problems with the converter I have until I installed this Serial Port emulator, which clears up any problems I’ve had with virtual COM ports.
Do you think that is because of general economic trends…
I think it’s because the internet is not entirely built-out yet.
In fact, it might be some time before every conceivable use for the thing is conceived of and instituted. Of course, somewhere along there, in the not-too-distant future, the machines will do the programming themselves and then, most likely, they’ll start doing the conceiving as well.
But for now, there sure seems to be a lot of interest in finding people with PHP skills.
“Hey Pot Buyer, aren’t you a software developer?”
No, he’s a mid-level distributor. Duh.
No, he’s a mid-level distributor. Duh.
Ha! Made me grin.
No, not a developer or IT person. Administrative. Had an interview last week at one of the large search engine companies. Called next day to say they were impressed. Waiting for next round of interviews. So fingers crossed.
BUT - they are offering quite a lower salary than what I am used to.
So fingers crossed.
Best of luck, Pot Man.
When you get the job, don’t tell them about your “sideline”, wink, wink.
In all honesty, Americans have always had a great work ethic, but those hard-earned dollars were buying bigger and more expensive trinkets. Materialism doesn’t buy happiness. And sadly, a lot of those trinkets were foreign-made.
Who in their right mind would drive a Buick? It’s not hip. Unless you like polka music. The gold-stand was Toyota and Honda. And of course, BMW, Lexus, and Mercedes were the only luxury cars to buy. No baby boomer in his right mind would be caught driving a Lincoln or Cadillac.
Millions of long-term unemployed baby boomers, in their 50s, will never work again. The WSJ had a recent article alluding to this fact. If you’ve been unemployed for over a year, the chances of finding work decrease with each passing day. Millions of unemployed baby boomers are now applying for disability benefits.
I don’t know what the future holds. Americans are upset and angry. They’ve never been particulary upset and angry about thousands of GIs dying in foreign lands, but a reduced standard of living is a big deal. A very big deal.
However, human beings are very adapatable. We wouldn’t be here if we weren’t. We’ve survived earthquakes, plagues, dictators, and famine. Eventually, many of us will accept a reduced standard of living. The bitching and feeling sorry for ourselves will continue for a long time.
If you look at the history books, something will probably happen in the future to distract us from this mindless bitching about how awful and cruel life can be. It may take a couple of decades. But by then, a lot of us will be dead. And you can’t bitch when you’re dead.
People just stole my stereo/nav unit from my car. I had the glass replaced, and they put in American made glass. Rippled like a fun house mirror. Horrible. I made them replace it, they did so with Mexico made glass. It looks great now.
I owned a Ford. Air conditioning failed, electrical system problems, dead by 100K miles. Now I’m driving a Honda, 150K miles, and the air conditioning still works. The alternator failed, but it’s made in America (big ol sticker on it with a flag). Go figure. Next car, I’d like a used BMW M3. Or maybe a 4 door Jeep wrangler thing.
Your brake job and standard tire replacement on a used M3 will run you more than the AC & electrical system problems on a Ford, and you will replace them once a year.
The_Overdog is right - don’t underestimate common wear and tear costs on BMWs. I have one - very expensive.
Millions of long-term unemployed baby boomers, in their 50s, will never work again. The WSJ had a recent article alluding to this fact. If you’ve been unemployed for over a year, the chances of finding work decrease with each passing day. Millions of unemployed baby boomers are now applying for disability benefits.
This is strictly anecdotal, but I’m hearing from more than a few self-employed types, including some on the north side of 50, who are experiencing quite a surge in business.
This includes my cousin Tom, who’s a construction contractor in Vermont. He has an excellent reputation, and has had one for many years. I know we tell a lot of stories about construction people having hard times, but my cousin’s story shows that, even in this economy, if you do good work, there is demand for your services.
Our contractor of choice here says it will be months before he can get to our job.
In all honesty, Americans have always had a great work ethic, but those hard-earned dollars were buying bigger and more expensive trinkets. Materialism doesn’t buy happiness. And sadly, a lot of those trinkets were foreign-made.
Who in their right mind would drive a Buick? It’s not hip. Unless you like polka music. The gold-stand was Toyota and Honda. And of course, BMW, Lexus, and Mercedes were the only luxury cars to buy. No baby boomer in his right mind would be caught driving a Lincoln or Cadillac.
Millions of long-term unemployed baby boomers, in their 50s, will never work again. The WSJ had a recent article alluding to this fact. If you’ve been unemployed for over a year, the chances of finding work decrease with each passing day. Millions of unemployed baby boomers are now applying for disability benefits.
I don’t know what the future holds. Americans are upset and angry. They’ve never been particulary upset and angry about thousands of GIs dying in foreign lands, but a reduced standard of living is a big deal. A very big deal.
However, human beings are very adapatable. We wouldn’t be here if we weren’t. We’ve survived earthquakes, plagues, dictators, and famine. Eventually, many of us will accept a reduced standard of living. The bitching and feeling sorry for ourselves will continue for a long time.
If you look at the history books, something will probably happen in the future to distract us from this mindless bitching about how awful and cruel life can be. It may take a couple of decades. But by then, a lot of us will be dead. And you can’t bitch when you’re dead.
P. S. I guess I’ll post this again. One minute it was there and now it’s gone. I hit my back button.
Well written post that caused me to think about the future . I have been living in the now recently . When I think about all they could of done with the bail out money ,I just get irate . But, moving on ….it’s not looking good at all ,just like it always has been predicted on this blog by many over the years. Years ago I suggested massive job creation ,retraction of globalism
by any new law that will make it happen ,welfare for the downtrodden ,
only shoring up FDIC ,and a number of other ideas . To me ,the only way is to go back to the old ways ,except more wiser because of the crash .
Even if it will take the government starting factories (and later selling them to private commerce ),we need to produce again . Jobs are the lifeblood of a Country ,and that is so simple .Big Business only looks in terms of selling to anything and anybody ,while getting cheap labor ,so Big Business should not decide the fate of the Country . Who ever said that a World this big could go Global ,while having different rules and trade balances ,was a Wall Street Kingpin no doubt . Economies have to be controlled . Somehow I don’t feel confident that the current group of
World Leaders will do anything but try to return to the Pad the Pockets of the Top 15% type economy ,or the chosen ones .
America can’t be about padding the pockets of the chosen ones . America has to be about opportunity that the chosen ones seek out and work hard for .
The chosen ones make America what it is
Money rules, and those with money rule.
A good globalism move would be to require that foreign manufacturers producing for American companies adhere to the same environmental regulations that our manufacturers do. That’d help curve some of the off shoring of manufacturing, and help cut down the crazy chinese cancer issues that are starting to creep up.
Same environmental and **labor** protection and wages we have. Now, THAT would fix things!
Living “in the now?”
See, I have been accused by some bloggers here of living in the future - for the last 9 years saving like a monk. Then the same bloggers are whining that we will never get out of a depression.
I saved several years worth of expenses in various asset classes that lower the risk (smooth out the peaks and troughs) of my wealth accumulation.
If y’all did the same maybe you would not have to eat prunes and drink wine with me!
Bill,
Many on this blog have been doing the same as you. One big difference: you are single and childless. For those who have families, it’s not nearly as easy to be “carefree.”
I know you will retort that we should all be single and childless, but I’d hate to see the world that develops as a result if that lifestyle were adopted by everyone, theoretically-speaking.
Childless and single isn’t for everyone. My wife and son are what make my life….life. All the toys in the world wouldn’t fill the hole I’d have in my soul if I had to walk the path without them. If having them in my life means the path is windier and steeper than so be it.
Manufacturing jobs are not coming back. And no doubt a lot of us will become less materialistic. We won’t be buying worthless stuff to fill our closets with even more worthless stuff.
I think politics has to be local. Big companies and corporations should have a say in their own state and district but that’s it. Powerful pharmaceutical companies have no business buying a vote in North Dakota.
And there’s no revolving door in Washington. Once a politician gets elected, its hard to vote them out of office.
Manufacturing jobs are coming back. All those new tariffs will ensure it.
Also, to add to that, I tire of hearing the argument that the loss of U.S. jobs to low-paying nations is some kind of natural law. The jobs weren’t moved there by some gravitational pull that can not be reversed.
Exactly right, milkcrate.
Manufacturing jobs are coming back.
Higher energy (i.e. transportation) costs will eventually bring back some manufacturing jobs. But regardless of the country of manufacture, we will be consuming fewer manufactured goods.
Past days of American mass over-consumption are long gone.
Manufacturing jobs have to come back as well as many jobs lost to outsourcing . Has anybody ever thought about the security problems with having this much of the manufacturing base over seas ? The whole current set up is stupid . Economies should be local actually .
I for one ,do not want to see the middle class go down the drain .Everything that is happening today is the opposite of what made this Country strong . Corruption needs to be rooted out …that means good-by current Politicians and hello back to the past …..Look , Wall Street and Big Business sold out America and don’t accept that we have to go into this brave new world of nothing but catering to
the current power -brokers and their Global ideas . I would suggest slow but sure ,undo the damage and return to the past . It might not be filled with as much junk ,but at least we won’t have to answer to communist ,who would like to slit our throats . Get real you guys ,,,there is no other way .
A big part of the nostalgia craze is because a bunch of the things that have replaced it aren’t what I would consider an “improvement”.
I always appreciate your posts, Wiz.
i would prefer a grand deleveraging that would reduce housing to a much more affordable level and thus free up disposable income and improve the competitiveness of the u.s. worker with the rest of the world to a bunch of orwellian socialistic programs.
i would prefer a grand deleveraging that would reduce housing to a much more affordable level and thus free up disposable income and improve the competitiveness of the u.s. worker
My thoughts exactly. If house prices drop like a rock, more people will be able to afford houses even on meager salaries.
The people left underwater by this transition can just rent until their credit improves, and then re-buy at a lower price.
It’s the only way out (at least, in my narrow and naieve way of thinking)
That’s my glass-half-full view of the housing bubble. As soon as we finally digest it, there’s going to be very affordable housing for owners and renters, and plenty of cheap commercial properties for entrepreneurs. The future’s so bright…I’m wearing my sunglasses at night.
That’s what’s happening now. It will continue. We are in a “recovery” because house prices are decreasing. It’s a good thing.
I suspect that’s precisely what’s happening right now, michael. Eventually, they’ll figure out that it’s easier to just take a zero off the price of everything and start over.
i would prefer a grand deleveraging that would reduce housing to a much more affordable level and thus free up disposable income and improve the competitiveness of the u.s. worker with the rest of the world to a bunch of orwellian socialistic programs.
But with so many vested interests in keeping prices as high as possible, even artificially high, the decline will continue to be slow. But the decline dictated by the fundamentals will eventually occur as those fundamentals are too strong to be overcome by artificial means.
the kids doing their mandatory 2 years of national service.
Its refreshing to find someone willing to advocate indentures servitude for children.
Of course, I’m sure the children of the rich will exempted.
But why stop at 2 years?
+1
Its refreshing to find someone willing to advocate indentures servitude for children.
The main reason I’ve been employable most of my life is the four years I spent in the Navy.
were you drafted or did you volunteer?
were you drafted or did you volunteer?
I enlisted because I was too undisciplined to go to college and bored to near-suicide by working in a supermarket.
I see your point, but I had no other options, so it was like being forced. I called in late for work one too many times and only avoided being fired by proclaiming I was joining the service.
Do you think I could get in or is it too late for me…
Do you think I could get in or is it too late for me…
Heck, you have your own squad.
The Dog Squad…I like it!
I don’t think that the draft has affected the Navy since WWII. But I could be wrong.
Military is a great deal, esp. the Navy, but you know good and well plenty of HS graduates could not qualify or advance in their MOS even if they did manage to get in.
What you would have with mandatory universal service is more like a Job Corps.
…but you know good and well plenty of HS graduates could not qualify or advance in their MOS even if they did manage to get in.
I didn’t know that, but it could be true.
What the service gave me, besides a trade (electronics) was a work ethic. I learned (the hard way) what it meant to work as part of a team and pull my own weight.
Before I went in, I was a spoiled brat - how my parents managed to spoil a kid when we were barely above poverty level is beyond me, but god bless ‘em, they did.
Aftewards, I took great pride in doing a good job and offering to pitch in instead of waiting to be forced.
my two brothers swore the Navy saved their lives. Back then they got in even after being kicked out of school. Enlisted the day they turned 17. LOL
How I envied them.
Another topic for another column, Skip. Thanks for the idea.
Please read the quote in context. Notice I said “Orwellian?”
“Its refreshing to find someone willing to advocate indentures servitude for children.”
Aww, poor kiddies, forced to serve their country while being paid for it and learning valuable job skills while they gain maturity. How awful ! I mean it’s barbaric ! What other civilized country would ask so much ?!
http://staff.kings.edu/kdils/StudentWork/Walsh/Foreign%20Draft.doc
I’ve known more than a few people who’ve traveled in, or lived in, Israel. Some of the lived-in types stayed long enough to be in the IDF, and let me tell you something, that outfit has the espirit de corps that put most other military services to shame.
Luckily for us, we live in the United States of America, where the government doesn’t actually own the people. If they did, then they could easily force us to do whatever they want in exchange for whatever they chose for as long as they wanted us to do it. But since they don’t, we instead work at market rates doing the best/most appropriate work we can find for as long as we can and want to.
+1
It’s mind boggling to see so many smart people in this blog have such a blind faith in gobmint.
They’ve mistakenly convinced themselves that the powers that be in the government share their agenda and wish to force it on the rest of us. The force it on the rest of us part is right, at least…..
double +1
Slavery is blissful, especially when you are wishing it on someone else
I went on the road the past two weeks visiting customers. They all make heavy capital equipment, metalurgical furnaces and such. The manufacturing halls are growing quiet. The backlogs are close to gone. There are no orders.
Most of these customers are old friends. I could see the toll the situation is taking on them physically. Repeatedly I heard the words “I don’t know what we’re going to do.”
“I don’t know what we’re going to do.”
I hear buggy whips are coming back into style.
I hear buggy whips are coming back into style.
Eyes right!
Poppycock! The recovery is imminent. Why they even said so on CNBC, so it has to be true.
I’m reminded of an old friend who is in sales. The problem is, it’s heavy equipment sales. You know, excavators, haulpak’s- big stuff. The price of gold is up, so perhaps the mines are keeping him busy. I don’t know, but he’s a nice guy so I hope he’s ok. He’s got a wife and kids.
The Recession is over Ben Bernake sees green shoots.
They should make lawn mowers except not here in San Diego we have a small water shortage. Amazing factoid I pay 3x for water here verus Phoenix where I would just water the air somtimes to cool off.
I don’t know the exact statistic, but around 50 percent of Americans are single. And many live by themselves. It’s not unusal for a single person to live in a 2000-square-foot house. But then, too, some single folks do live in small apartments.
Regardless, I think there’s way too much housing inventory. Realistically, a sizeable house should not be the domain of only one person. I don’t think so. A one-bedroom apartment is much better fit for a single person. Or a small bungalow. A sizeable house is a much better fit for shared living, be it a family or whatever.
A reduced standard of living is going to force a lot of folks into shared living quarters. That dynamic may be a plus.
The 2nd bedroom for the single guy is for the racks of computer servers! You want to condemn a single person to a 1 bedroom apartment? What about all the old empty nesters with the 3Ksqft+ McMansion? Hate on them!
OK, I’ll give you the second bedroom for your computer stuff.
Some single and very lonely guys may have the second bedroom for their p**n tapes. I guess a second bedroom does come in handy. Well, at least until mom pays a visit.
for their p**n tapes
You need to get out of the house.
pr0n isn’t available on tape any more. You get it from an internet now.
Or, so I’ve been told.
uh you should check on CL how many just Give away those pesky xxx VHS old school tapes….it amazes me how someone would have 200 300 even 500 “tapes”
Thanks for the information. I probably should get out of my apartment more.
I’ve never run into one of those sites. Bambi, and sticking with Disney, is about as racy as I get.
“p**n tapes”
And Cheetos.
there’s a country song in there somewhere
there’s a country song in there somewhere
I wanna see the video.
That 2nd and 3rd bedroom is office space or home theater!
What I find worthless are ‘formal’ living or dining rooms.
rusty
I had one of those “shrine” living rooms. If anyone dared to sit on my white sofa or white armless chairs, why I might have turned into Lizzie Borden.
I am recovered!
2nd bedroom in this casa is my design studio. No formal living or dining room here. I wouldn’t have bought such useless space on a bet.
A one-bedroom apartment is much better fit for a single person.
My preference would be a 800 sqft on an acre, if you don’t mind.
With a 2200 sqft workshop.
Instead of the workshop, I’ll take a photoshop.
Maybe I can photoshop some of my pictures, post them on the Internet, and finally get a date.
Instead of the workshop, I’ll take a photoshop.
I got an enlarger, a safelight and a few trays and tongs I can sell you.
I’m not sure what those things are, but whatever does the trick.
I hope he’s talking about a photo enlarger.
LOLBigTime.
I’m one of those fifty-something, live by myself types. My square footage? 936 square feet. I’ve done the one-bedroom apartment thing, and, as far as I’m concerned, if I no longer have to hear the neighbor going up and down the stairs, having an argument with a spouse or a sibling, flushing the commode, etc., I’ll continue to be a happy camper.
I guess a single person could live in a camper. If you don’t like your neighbors, you just put the transmission in drive.
I live quite happily on a boat. 12 x 32 ft.
Divorced guy I met a few months back has a one bedroom apartment in his parent’s hangar on a private airport.
600sq/ft apartment inside a 40×50 hangar, big enough for two Cubs and a couple of project cars he was working on.
All it needed was better insulation, and one corner of the hangar heated, for doing stuff during the winter.
My dream house………..(sigh)………
What type of boat do you live on Blue Skye? Houseboat, cabin cruiser, sail…?
I guess there’s pluses and minuses with everything. If you live in a house, there’s more chance of crime.
But there are negatives living in an apartment.
I just hate apartments is all. How about a 1,000 square foot house with a small yard?
Got one of those sub-1,000 square footers right h’yar!
“I just hate apartments is all.”
We just rode our bicycles through a large apartment complex the other day. My young son didn’t like the looks of ‘em; been spoiled. I need a garage for my tools and the Rigid Tool girl calendar.
I prefer apartments over houses. Carefree maintenance and responsive within-a-day fixes are the rule at most large corporate-owned apartment complexes.
I rented in a triplex for a couple of years. The swamp cooler on the roof (two story building) would break down conveniently on a Friday when the owner left town. I had no ladder. I spent many weekends in my place where the interior temperature did not show up on the gauge - the needle was all the way over in the hot zone!
Renting from small landlords is at the bottom of my list.
And yes, apartments are more efficient for us singles than to hear yourself echo when you are on the phone in your 2,000 sq foot place.
Bill:
I always owned window ac’s in fact the 2 i have now were FREE one from my bother who installed Central air and one from Craigslist….
Even down south i never lived without at least the living room ac..
———————
The swamp cooler on the roof (two story building) would break down conveniently on a Friday when the owner left town
“It’s not unusal for a single person to live in a 2000-square-foot house.”
Without kids to provide for, I suppose there would be more money left over to spend on housing.
Just watched a talk last night on Youtube by Dr. Elizabeth Warren. According to her, singles and persons without children have a distinct advantage over parents when it comes to housing. People with children feel compelled to purchase homes at a premium because they are in a specific school district. You pay for the district when you have kids.
Fellow HBBers, yo!
(That’s a greeting I learned from my hiphoppy friends who are actually in their 40s and wish they were so carefree and anti-establishment as the real hiphoppers, but they had their chance…)
Anyway, Allena’s post made me think a lot, which was hard and excruciating, but I actually did it for awhile, anyway.
I am living the future, here, right now. I am unemployed and will be going on the road full-time in a month when my little 17 foot Casita camper rolls off the factory line in Texas. I’ll pull it with my Toyota FJ Cruiser.
I will be living the life that many Americans will probably eventually be living when their houses are gone and they are also unemployed, assuming they can wrangle up an RV of sorts.
The RV industry is tanking hard, as you know. It followed the whims of the McMansion, the latest monstrosity was a huge RV that actually sported a veranda where you could sit and look down on your lowly neighbors (those losers in Casitas). These big rigs were poorly made and took tons of gas to haul and to heat/cool. These behemoths are passe, BK, and the Casita factory is backlogged until Feb for orders.
In one month I will begin a new life. Me and 4 dogs and 4 cats. I’ve engineered a cat corral, a big space where they can lounge around and be cats during the day, but I haven’t figured the veranda yet. They are also getting adept at being led on leashes. Or maybe I should say I’m getting adept at being led by cats on leashes.
I intend to boondock 100% of the time and follow the sun. I’ll work when I have to, preferably as a CEO at BOA for a few hours a year to pay the bills.
I’m going to start a blog, so I’ll keep you posted. And yes, I’ve camped a lot of my life (archaeologist) but am still pretty nervous about this…but Allena’s post made me think about how much my life has changed, I once had a beautiful house (sold it at the peak) and all the regular stuff. Somehow, this seems way cooler, until that first blizzard hits…I’ll let you know…
Lostie gal,
Did you order the Spirit, the Freedom or the Liberty?
Spirit Deluxe. Wanted to be able to make the dinette into a bed when I wanted company, never know when I might meet some poor soul who’s never had the fun of camping with 8 animals in a 17 footer.
(Actually, I intend to be outside most of the time, the critters, too.)
Also got the high lift axle so I can get off-road and the outside shower (for the dogs). No microwave.
Hey, Lostie!
That is going to be one AMAZING blog, (although I think you should make it a film documentary,) and I can’t wait to read dispatches about your adventures on the road during GD2.
For the katz—
Mosquito netting is cheap, easily compacted, and very hard to scale or scratch through–especially if you keep their little claws trimmed. Hang it from a ring at the top and make a disassemble-able frame for the bottom so they can’t burrow under.
Any rips or tears from lunging at birds and lizards can be easily repaired with dental floss and an upholstery needle. Or Tyvek tape. You gotta have Tyvek on the road….
Great idea, thanks! I have a 50 foot roll of chicken wire with a tarp on the top for shade and shelter and to keep them in and it’s working OK, but netting would be way easier to carry around.
Cats are really smart and I sometimes tie them up with a little harness on and a long rope, they love that. They’re actually getting into the adventure…
And thanks for the encouragement on the blog, I’m also going to take my HD movie camera and see what transpires…
You’ll be the distaff Studs Terkel, interviewing folks about GD2 and recording it in real time. Sounds like a grant-worthy* use of your talents to me….
*Time for a new WPA? Or a least a PBS Independent Lens piece.
Losty, this will be the zeitgeist saga of our times. I would recommend reading George Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London, for mood. You could show it at Sundance. We would all come to see it and cheer you on. Well, can’t speak for everybody, but I have always wanted a compelling reason to go to Sundance. Look forward to reading it. I think you are very brave. You too, ahansen, that goes without saying.
What year is your Toyota FJ Cruiser
It’s a 2007. I bought it used with 7k miles and got a really good deal, fully loaded. I probably could sell it for about 1/3 of what I paid after my Blue Heeler chewed up the seat and armrests, but hey, who cares, it’s my furmobile. Someone once asked if I had 5 dogs in there and I said 4, the other thing you’re looking at is a giant hairball.
J/k, sorta, I do vacuum regularly (the dogs). You can actually hose the interior out. I love that rig, I can go anywhere (except fancy neighborhoods).
Someone once asked if I had 5 dogs in there and I said 4, the other thing you’re looking at is a giant hairball.
That’s hilarious.
Back when I had dogs and cats and a wife, I used to joke when cleaning house, “Look honey, I found enough fur to make a whole new cat!”
Hey, Lavi, I’ll have lots of time to take up knitting, maybe you’d want a sweater??
I’m Mustering Up Enthusiasm For This Big Adventure, like I said, visitors welcome, bring ice cream…
Lavi, your blog is pretty funny…
Hey, Lavi, I’ll have lots of time to take up knitting, maybe you’d want a sweater??
Ewww.
Lavi, your blog is pretty funny…
Thanks. I try. Can’t wait to follow your adventures!
Not so eeewwwy as you might imagine, lavi. I saved the shed undercoat of my timberwolf for about six years until I had a big muslin bag of it, then carded it and had a friend spin it into the softest yarn you can imagine. I still have the lap warmer I knitted from it, and though she’s long dead, it reminds me of her friendship and all the adventures the two of us had in the Laguna Hills above the sea.
“I found enough fur to make a whole new cat!”
ROTFLMAO!
Having four of the critters myself I know EXACTLY what you mean.
Me and 4 dogs and 4 cats.
Wow, that’s quite a camper-full.
Are they all acclimated to the road life now?
Hey, ET, yeah, the dogs are easy, they’re used to camping, they love it and stick around. The cats have now been to Montana twice and around Utah and Colorado a bunch and camped in tents with me, and they’re actually doing really well, they really like sitting there and checking out the backcountry, especially when the ravens come in and taunt them. I was pretty nervous about the cats, but they’re doing great. And like I said, we’ll be outside most of the time.
Wahoo!! Vinyl floors, all fiberglass interior and also an inside and outside shower. No more carpets to vacuum and lawns to mow and all that wasting of time, instead I can sit in my lawn chair and drink espresso. Anyone who wants is welcome to join me…
“Anyone who wants is welcome to join me…”
Does that include MY four dogs and violent parrot?
Yup.
Your parrot will keep the cats in line.
The cats keep the dogs in line.
The dogs keep the parrot in line.
See, it all works out fine.
I intend to boondock 100% of the time and follow the sun. I’ll work when I have to, preferably as a CEO at BOA for a few hours a year to pay the bills.
Could you put me in charge of their Countrywide division for a few weeks? There’re some tapes I’d like to find.
David Brooks, relatively honest conservative, on America’s cultural decline since 1980 (gee what happened that year)?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/opinion/29brooks.html?hp
“Over the past few years, however, there clearly has been an erosion in the country’s financial values. This erosion has happened at a time when the country’s cultural monitors were busy with other things. They were off fighting a culture war about prayer in schools, ‘Piss Christ’ and the theory of evolution. They were arguing about sex and the separation of church and state, oblivious to the large erosion of economic values happening under their feet.”
David Brooks, relatively honest liberal…
There I fixed it for you.
anyone left of McCarthy is a liberal
Anyone left of McCarthy is dead. At Greenlawn.
findagrave.com claims Joe McCarthy buried in St. Mary’s Cemetery in Appleton.
Whoever is left of McCarthy has the 2nd best burial plot view of the river. Stopped there decades ago for a water and shade break on a long bike ride and saw the grave. Beautiful spot, and I remember it as in Appleton rather than Neenah.
Maybe scatter the ashes after we pass.
So no gravestone and pinpoints of death on Google Maps.
Findagrave? Too much.
Good yarn, though.
“David Brooks, relatively honest conservative…”
Laughable to see “honest” and “conservative” together.
If only Carter got 4 more years we’d all be OK, eh?
I was laid off about 4 and a half weeks ago. I’m in my early 30’s and have been at no less than 6 different jobs and have an exquisite resume with a high level of experience. Prior to the recession, I used to send out just a handful of resumes and get a new job.
That’s not the case now. So far I’ve placed probably something like 200 resumes. I’m applying for jobs in my field at all levels. I’ve contacted everyone I worked with over the years. I have 4 recruiters and have been sending resumes out of state as well. So far I have had 2 interviews, one that went well and I’m still waiting to learn the outcome of. That was 2 weeks ago. I have another interview in a few weeks. Bottom line: Things are about 1,000% worse than they were 2 years ago in regards to the job market. Out of all the friends I have, at least 5 are also unemployed. Most are about my age. Most in the same tech-related business.
The good thing for me is that I started my career at a Joe Job, stocking shelved for $7 an hour at a warehouse. So when I started making the money, I acted as if I could lose that job at any minute and as a result I’ve saved up quite a bit. We still rent too and rent cheap. We have no car or school payments. We don’t eat out nor buy fancy things. With unemployment I am still saving money because it pays the bills plus some.
But this job market is nasty. There are millions of us competing and getting your resume to even be seen is about as good as pulling on the arm of a one-armed bandit or taking a spin on the roulette wheel.
Well, best of luck, maybe you wanna buy a Casita and head for the desert? We can have a special HBBer camp spot. We’ll have a sign that says “It’s Different Here.”
A better idea, especially in the winter, is to ’squat’ in one of the empty houses in every neighborhood. Get the utilities turned on and take care of the landscaping. The neighbors would love you. What a wonderful experience for your children. Have a tree at Xmas as well
The real squatters would kick your arse and rape you for sport, but it sounds like a good idea…..
“Tech” can be fickle. Today’s hot skillset is tomorrow’s ship it to India and they’ll do it for $5/hr.
I recall an article a few years ago where the author had several people around the world bid on a project and had them all do it at the same time, comparing the results at the. He had folks bid from eastern Europe, India, China, South America, etc. No one bid more than a few hundred dollars on a project that was a solid man month of work.
“Tech” can be fickle. Today’s hot skillset is tomorrow’s ship it to India and they’ll do it for $5/hr.
Mmmm.
I have heard that outsourcing development is not always that successful. Something about 2 different languages, 5,000 miles and 8 different timezones gumming up critical feedback loops during time and/or efficiency-sensitive projects.
As housing prices head down in the Silicon valley and elsewhere, I expect to see more programming work brought back as developers can afford to work for more “reasonable” salaries.
As an aside, only 25% of software is sold as a stand-alone product. The rest is produced in-house (like I do and have always done). Think company intranets, machine-control for large plants, investment algorithms, etc. Therefore, the programming staff also have to be somewhat familiar with the business whether it’s medical, financial or industrial.
The prices in SV are still at nosebleed levels. I’m actually interviewing for jobs in Austin and Atlanta. I’ll gladly jump for a job in either city. The cost of living in the Bay Area is still ridiculous.
I wish you the best of luck in your job hunting adventure. Thanks for sharing, and please let us know how everything goes.
Good luck!
What state/city and industry are you? I know the midwest is not that bad. A couple my friends moved here from CA recently (job related).
Ron Paul??? Wow, welcome to the HBB blog.
When you get back to DC, could you please do something about that dang Federal Reserve Bank? Thx
To many in colleges in this country turning out people who will never make 100k or more in their lives and saddled with college loans.
We need more trade workers, plenty of air and heating people needed, plumbers always in demand and electricians, auto mechs etc. good solid jobs. Women have it a little harder in the work force to be sure but they have to find a niche.
College is for a very special profession or skill. If you have a JC system in your state just as good a AA degree will cost you very little and online education is good also. Spending 25k a year is crazy unless you have to like a Doctor, Lawyer etc.
But for the most part just a lot of heck raising and a whole lot of expense that will kill you with bills you have to pay back and still may never get that big paying job, just my take.
I live in a large city and always have trouble finding good repair people or workers who want to get a little dirty but could make a good buck if they want to.
We need more trade workers, plenty of air and heating people needed, plumbers always in demand and electricians, auto mechs etc. good solid jobs. Women have it a little harder in the work force to be sure but they have to find a niche.
I’ve hired a three trades-women to do work around the Arizona Slim Ranch, and all have had something in common. What might that thing be? I’ll drop a big hint: It’s their orientation.
I’ve found that each has been a tremendous worker. As in, stick with the job until it’s done right. I’m personally of the opinion that the lesbian work ethic would eliminate our federal deficit and national debt in nothing flat.
Sounds like a recipe that we all can like, a job done right.
You should see it around here when the union halls have an open application day…..people start camping out on the sidewalk Friday tents cookers sterno..rain gear … for the 10am Monday door opening…and then they usually take only the first 500-1000 for the maybe 100 apprentice slots open
It is a sight to see…….and its been going on for a few years this recession has made it far worse.
—————–
We need more trade workers,
Poor poor Girl she used to be famous and I bought her records I also bought the Dead Kennedys but that’s another story….
———————————————
http://perezhilton.com/2009-02-22-debbie-gibson-loses-home-will-she-move-in-with-tiffany
Jello Biafra isn’t losing his home, so yeah, it’s another story …
To hell with Debbie Gibson, I need the 411 on Stacey Q!
http://www.staceyqonline.com
yup she was one tiny girl didnt even make 100lbs.
Consumer confidence unexpectedly falls in Sept.
Yes. Who could have imagined that people without jobs, running out of unemployment benefits heading into winter would somehow lose confidence?
NEW YORK – Americans’ worries about job security flared up in September, causing a widely watched barometer of consumer confidence to dip unexpectedly and raising more concern about the upcoming holiday shopping season and the overall economic recovery.
o/T: On the NPR news site: “This week in New York, the American Museum of Natural History unveiled something never before seen: an 11-by-4-foot tapestry made completely of spider silk.
Weavers in Madagascar took four years to make it, and the museum says there’s no other like it in the world.”
Quite amazing. Love to see things of quality made by artisans.
Amazing!
Another thing I need to add to the extensive list of Things To Do/See/Eat When I Visit My Sister.
Looks beautiful!
Here’s a picture, and check out the pic of the spiders used to create the silk…yikes!
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113223398
How does one harvest silk from a spider?
Very, very carefully…
Pam Anderson from People mag: ”
“I’m financially secure and I want to thank everyone who expressed concern for me based on these rumors,” Anderson said in a statement Monday. “I am actually touched at how much concern has been expressed for me over this. It is true that I am in a dispute with some of the contractors working on my home. This is because after paying millions of dollars to build the house I continue to get bills from the contractors.”
L.A. County records show that five construction companies have filed liens for unpaid bills for remodeling work done on the star’s Malibu home, with one company claiming $674,043 alone for “labor and materials … to remodel main house, construct swimming pool, construct foundations for guest house.”
I don’t know what’s wrong with those contractors, why they should be happy to do the work for a celeb for free just for bragging rights. More green sprouts among the rich and famous.
“This is because after paying millions of dollars to build the house I continue to get bills from the contractors.”
My filthy mind is involuntarily cooking up a debt repayment plan for Pam.
“The last time we had a Great Depression, it took a World War to pull us out of it.”
In my darkest tinfoil hat moments, I fear the bubble will result in a nuke attack on Cali, FL and NYC to redistribute the population.
I’m still a little loopy from 9/11
In my darkest tinfoil hat moments…
In my darkest tinfoil hat moments, I wonder if my tinfoil has Chinese lead in it.
Muggy, thank you for saying the loopy thing. I have not turned loopy. I have plunged over the edge into low grade paranoia.
I was in DC on 9/11, and watched the smoke from the Pentagon burning, from the 9th floor of a government building, across the river. Two of my friends, consultants, were in there. DC was frozen with quiet traffic for three hours. No shouting, little talking, no jostling on the sidewalk. Just a grim evacuation. I went inside for awhile, not wishing to be trapped in the mass of cars. When I emerged, a mere 90 minutes later, downtown DC, around the Mall, was a ghost town.
Being part of that was like Woodstock in a macabre way. It marks you forever. I have had a bit of an edge since then.
Hi Jane, I was standing on the pier in Hoboken when the first tower collapsed. There are many reasons why 9/11 makes me loopy, but the reason it makes me paranoid is my own observation: I heard a loud pop — like an explosion — about 3 seconds before the tower fell. My wife (then girlfriend) was in upstate NY, so we were on the phone, I immediately said “someone jut blew it up” and then the line went dead.
Long story short, I have many questions about that day, but witnessing it first hand gave me a ‘gut’ feeling that has never gone away. I still get tinfoily every September.
My apologies for being a little OT Ben, but I know I am only sometimes crazy, and when I do think of ways to solve the bubble, redistributing large amounts of people would do it; war would do it.
Anyway, seeing Allena’s line about GD/WW hit me hard.
Muggy:
I was on the LIE exit ramp here in Sunnyside Queens taking pictures of the collaspe….it was an amazingly clear day.
I took pictures as well. Prior to the collapse, it was just a crazy fire, and I didn’t know it was a commercial jet/terrorism.
I had some serious guilt for a while that my first thought was, “take pictures!”
Muggy we have our memories of that day in pictures. No one can take that away from us.
“Being part of that was like Woodstock in a macabre way. It marks you forever. I have had a bit of an edge since then.”
Wow. I wouldn’t have put it that way but yeah, Thats kind of how it feels.
I was in a building on 14th street that day, a few blocks from the White House. When the plane went into the Pentagon it was terrifyingly clear that this was bigger than any of us could have possibly imagined. I got the hell out of there and walked, YES, walked, to my parents house in Mclean VA. They were in Yellostone at the time but I had the keys to their car and wanted to get the hell out of DC.
I knew there was something seriously wrong with the United States long before 9/11 but yeah, that day, and everything that has occured since then, has pushed me irrevocably over some sort of psycological boundry and I will never be the same. Big time trust issues thats for damm certain.
Wow, Jane.
I hope you find peace.
ahansen, you see it all and express it so clearly. I am once again struck in the gut by the precision with which you state the case. Hoping again you will write your memoirs or SOMETHING that I can buy in hardback so as to have it conveniently to hand. Best, jane
“Hoping again you will write your memoirs or SOMETHING that I can buy in hardback”
Yuppers, me too.
Can someone splain sumpin’ to me: We’ve got these Fed guys wagging their fingers and saying they’re going to have to raise interest rates, and a couple months ago Bernacke was lecturing Congress about deficits and interest rates - isn’t there now a conflict of interest with the Fed, as they now own, what, a trillion dollars of U.S. Treasuries? Wouldn’t I, as a regular Joe Plumber on the street, say to the Fed - Why don’t you guys sell your crap before you raise my interest rates? Doesn’t raising the federal funds rate increase the value of the treasuries they’re holding?
Well, if Joe the Plumber has anything saved, then he’s happy to see rates go up.
If Joe the Plumber has a chunk of RYJUX that he’s holding onto because he knows the Fed MUST sell at some point, then he’s getting increasingly bitter.
But you make a good point. Maybe we should fix by law the interest rate on passbook savings accounts to, say, 10%. The courts do it that way. For some reason Joe Plumber thinks the number 10 is always better than the number 3, whether inflation is 0% or 14% (my point being I would prefer 3% rate in 0% inflation, as opposed to 10% in 14% inflation.) But maybe Joe Plumber can wrap his head around having 10% more in the bank a year from now, and will actually put some money in the bank. But I digress, if Joe Plumber isn’t out leveraging every last day of his future earnings, we’re all going to starve to death…
Crikey.
Does anyone have an experience using Realty Trac to find REO’s? Any feedback would be appreciated.
an=”any” - fast typing
Was Central Texas some kind of bubble capital and I just missed the news?
Published: September 29, 2009 10:27 am
Foreclosures spike again
By Anita Miller
News Editor
San Marcos — The more than four and a half inches of rainfall this month and last has transformed the Central Texas landscape.
But, the drought’s not broken yet, and likewise, the recession’s ongoing, continuing to cause spikes in the number of homes and other properties listed for foreclosure. In Hays, Travis and Williamson counties, the number of properties listed for auction one week from today will be higher than any October on record.
That was the news this week from Addison-based Foreclosure Listing Service, (FLS), which tracks listings in nine Central Texas counties.
The October postings include 144 in Hays, 454 in Williamson and 798 in Travis, the service said. That marks the second month this year that Hays listings have numbered 140 or more, with the other being July.
“Over the last year, October’s posting activity has risen 80 percent from the 80 postings filed for the tenth auction of 2008,” said FLS President and CEO George Roddy, adding that, “over the past two years, postings have escalated at a rate of 155 percent, up from the 67 notices filed for the October auction in 2007.”
Roddy also noted that October will be the ninth consecutive month that more than 100 Hays properties went into foreclosure.
“At this pace, home foreclosure postings in Hays County will probably reach close to 1,500 by the end of the year,” Roddy said, noting that the 1,218 foreclosures listed so far this year represent a 54 percent increase over the 792 filled in the first 10 months of 2008.
…
Was Central Texas some kind of bubble capital and I just missed the news?
Central Texas bubble was peaking while FL/CA/NV/AZ was already busting. The timing along with TX exceptionalism strengthened the “it’s different here” attitude. About a year ago, my CA brother (with a WF mortgage broker girlfriend looking for a TX UHS to work with) said that TX was allowing exotic mortgages that were no longer allowed in CA.
You didn’t miss the news. The dramatic stuff is yet to come.
The rolling bubble tsunami is global. I am personally holding my breath for the crash of the Chinese housing market, which I expect will dwarf anything that has occurred anywhere on the US mainland.
Recession over? Says who?
By Tammerlin Drummond
The Oakland Tribune
Posted: 09/29/2009 03:44:30 PM PDT
This week, I witnessed something in the checkout line at my local Safeway that broke my heart.
An older woman with two small children — I suspected her grandchildren — had just unloaded eggs, milk, bottled water and a dozen Rice-A-Roni boxes onto the belt. When she swiped her credit card, the clerk said it had been declined.
The line behind me was long. Many people had probably just gotten off work — so perhaps that was the reason for the deep sighs of impatient disapproval rather than any sense of compassion for the poor woman.
It was the third time in two weeks that I had seen someone publicly humiliated in the grocery store when it came time to pay.
The very next day, I was sitting on the front porch of my house in deep East Oakland when I noticed an unfamiliar car slowly cruising down my block.
A man sent by the bank hopped out and slapped a foreclosure notice on my neighbor’s door. He had the stealthy demeanor of a repo man — which, I guess, he is. Only instead of seizing cars for nonpayment, he takes peoples homes.
The news has been full of optimistic talk about how the worst recession to hit our nation since the 1930s is finally turning around. A recent edition of Newsweek proclaimed, “The Recession is Over!”
President Barack Obama has said that a recovery is under way.
But I can’t help but wonder, where is the recovery for ordinary
Americans?
…many of the financial institutions who got billions in bailout money aren’t helping people like my friend modify their loans.
Just ask some of the distressed homeowners who’ve tried to apply for loan modifications. It’s nearly impossible to get anyone from the bank on the phone. It took my friend months just to receive a letter from her financial institution with information about what she needed to include in her application.
With so many needy homeowners getting this kind of runaround, it’s not surprising that only 9 percent of some 2.7 million mortgages have been modified.
July was the worst month ever for foreclosures. Some 8.6 percent of homeowners were delinquent on their mortgages — 40 percent more than July 2008. What we’re seeing is that despite federal and state efforts to help distressed homeowners, people continue to lose their homes in record numbers.
There have been 2.9 million foreclosures so far — a number that could double in the next couple of years.
How can we take any talk of an economic recovery seriously when you’re talking about those kinds of numbers?
However, the banks who received billions in taxpayer bailout money seem to be recovering quite nicely. Goldman Sachs, a recipient of government largesse, will pay average bonuses of $770,000 to its employees.
But for many Americans?
The “economic recovery” is just a mirage.
The “economic recovery” is just a mirage.
Just like the government numbers that purport to show that there is a recovery. That there’s no legitimate recovery should be of no surprise to most ordinary Americans.
Tuesday September 29, 2009 11:05 PM ET
SmartMoney
It’s Your Money — Be Smart
Economy by Alan Abelson
Overhang of Foreclosures Clouds Housing Market
Barrons
…
What helped rattle the market last week was evidence that housing, which, when it crashed and burned, badly torched the rest of the economy as well, still faces a long, tough slog in its struggle to reach solid footing. It must really have pained the folks at the National Association of Realtors, who come hell or high water remain congenital optimists (you think it’s easy peddling the illusion that every shack’s a castle?) to report that sales of existing homes in August were lower.
The decline hurt all the more because the 2.7% drop to a 5.1 million annual rate broke a winning streak stretching back to March (which, perhaps not coincidentally, was when this explosive bear-market rally in equities began). As usual, economists, analysts and assorted camp followers had been confidently predicting a rise in sales. As usual, too, when, instead, sales fell, the economists, analysts et al. lickety-split hurried to point out that one month doesn’t necessarily constitute a trend. And it doesn’t, although on Wall Street that axiom somehow only applies when the month in question is a bummer.
All of which is preface to sharing with you a decidedly negative take on the outlook for housing by Amherst Securities Group, whose stuff we’ve quoted before and whose analysis is invariably first-rate. The report, dated last Wednesday, festooned with gory detail, focuses on the swollen overhang, the so-called shadow inventory, that has grown inexorably in the wake of the tsunami of default and foreclosure.
Amherst estimates this massive overhang at seven million units. That’s the equivalent of 135% of a full year’s existing-home sales and chillingly greater than the 1.27 million units that made up the overhang in early 2005, when the housing bubble had just begun its dizzying and more than a little lunatic ascent.
It’s frustrating that the PTB won’t allow these homes to come on the market which will FIX the “housing” problem.
Everyone here understands that cheap housing would be a boon to our economy. If only the banks/govt would accelerate the foreclosures, and move the inventory through, we could all be done with this debt crisis in a much quicker fashion.
Rising asset prices (especially housing) cannot exist in a declining-wage environment. We need to stop sacrificing U.S. citizens in order to save banks and mega-corporations –whose sole purpose is to strip our nation (and its people) of its wealth, and concentrate it into a few well-connected hands.
I think the overpopulation always leads to war statement is that far off. Read Collapse. There’s an intermediary step, overpopulation leads to overuse of the environment and a declining ability to support the population. That generally leads to violence that can either be externally or internally directed.