Housing and Middle America; A Long Slippery Slope:
Good Morning Middle America, rise and shine, we have a big job to do today; we have to save the U.S.A. from ourselves.
I promised to talk about the future of housing this morning and we will. But first, there is one bit of news that I need to report that hits close to my home here in beautiful Western Colorado.
All of you regular readers may remember that I talked about the well known Paonia Colorado sandal maker, Chaco, pulling up stakes and moving their manufacturing to China. The workers are calling today “Black Thursday” as the last American made pair of Chaco sandals will roll off the line and be shipped at 10:59 AM.
As we watch America being disassembled bit by bit, as we watch our fellow Americans lose their jobs one by one, we can no longer stand by and allow our political leaders to purposely pass legislation that chips away at our very foundation. It’s time to fight or we will find ourselves in the position of Joseph, Chief of the Nez Perce, when he said, “I will fight no more forever.” For it was the same United States Government who destroyed the Nez Perce when they wanted what the Nez Perce had…their land.
But, housing it is for the remainder of this article. Housing is not nearly at the bottom of the slippery slope that it has been descending for some two years now. It’s a very long slope.
As jobs continue to be lost and as prices continue to rise for necessities, mounting foreclosures of ill thought home purchases will continue to push the market downward. The interesting thing about this situation is that the very inflation that is pushing necessities up is also pushing the cost of building up.
Yet, market forces such as bankruptcy, foreclosure, unemployment and Chaco moving to China, trump the fact that the cost of building homes next year, will be more costly than the homes that are currently available.
Home purchases won’t come back to any positive degree until decent jobs come back and I’m not at all sure that is going to happen. I am certain that jobs won’t come back any time soon and certainly not in the next couple of years. In the mean time, inflation will continue the magic for which it is intended and that is giving our accumulated debt and our GDP the illusive appearance of being somewhat in balance.
Another thing that won’t happen this time around is a rise in average wages. The glut of labor that is being created by our ever increasing unemployment will artificially hold down wages even as living costs rise. Combine that fact with the pressure from low cost foreign competition in nearly every sector of American employment, and it does not bode well for the return of the housing industry.
It is important to understand that from a pure mathematical standpoint, wages must rise during inflationary times to maintain the current standard of living. For the reasons stated above, I don’t believe that it is possible to raise wages in this environment which brings us to the conclusion that our standard of living will continue to diminish.
If Barrack Obama or John McCain or most of our 535 members of Congress understand the subject that I have just laid out, they are keeping it a very closely guarded secret.
Use the links that Billy B posted yesterday to contact your favorite politician(s) and bring pressure to bear for an immediate and radical change of course before we too have to say, “I will fight no more forever, I will bow to the power of government.”
Subscribe to this blog
I guess the government is not looking closely yet, but they will be sitting below the same outhouse as the rest of us when it all shakes out. Unless that is, we the people decide to get interested in turning them around.
A study from the University of Oregon came up with the following data regarding exponential growth back in 1999. You can see that although the figures are not entirely accurate the end result of every increasing consumption is clear.
Material Rate Exhaustion Timescale
Aluminum 6.4% 2007 — 2023
Coal 4.1% 2092 — 2106
Cooper 4.6% 2001 — 2020
Petroleum 3.9% 1997 — 2017
Silver 2.7% 1989 — 2007
If we continue to ignore basic math and how our lives are affected by it as we continue to expand our consumption of finite resources and increase our global population beyond the level of sustainability for the resources available to us; there will be a time in the not too distant future where the quality of our lifestyle will begin to regress with no hope of reversing it forever.
We have time to correct this problem right now. The window is small however so we do not want to delay for another 5-10 years. This is not hear say, or “Chicken Little” terror tactics. It is proven fact!!! If we choose to continue our non-participation in our country’s system, it will not be the mentally bankrupt politicians who are to blame for the wreck. It will be the one you look at in the mirror most mornings. The politicians always have, and always will keep doing exactly what you and I let them do. I write to my representative 2-3 times per week; and I work 12-14 hours per day, seven days per week. Sure could use some help with these representatives. -bb
http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml
I am going to take your article and read it to a tree this morning.. It will have as much effect as writing my representatives.. I wish that fact weren’t true, but that does not make it so..
WmA…
Don’t feel like the “Lone Ranger”, Mr. WmA, you have many millions of peers who think and act just as you do. And that is the reason we will most likely never again see our economy improve in this country. And the reason our standard of living will most likely deteriorate dismally over the next 10 years; and forever from that point.
You and anyone who chooses to do nothing except complain that the news media does not give you quality information, have every right to do so. We can still be thankful we still have that.
But whining and complaining about anything; then refusing to do anything positive about it (or worse, expect the media to fix it) shows the lack of character we Americans possess and our lack of substance and integrity these days. Like I have said in the past; we deserve what we have coming our way; whether we choose to be ignorant, lazy and sloth like and have it all cave on us. Or whether we choose to do something about it, in mass and salvage some degree of quality life for all is entirely our choice.
Personally, I am fairly sickened by our nations dominate mind set today. -bb
Whew!!! Looks like maybe if WmA and 20 or 30 million of his think alikes would spend just a few minutes a week or even a month, writing their representative instead of reading to trees, we could actully convince our government that it is not just a few crack pots who want things to get better; it is the majotity of us. Possibly I am wrong. Could it be true that most Americans, even though they complain continually, really do not want things to get better?
I used to write letters to editors, and to representatives.. Writing to editors, I think is preaching to the choir, and while I understand what you wish were true.. I firmly believe that our representative ignore us, and play to the people who have influence over their re-election.. Those who are empowered.. Like I say, I understand, and wish it were so.. But, why do 70% of the people wish us out if Iraq, and yet nothing happens.. Is it because they aren’t writing enough ??? WmA…
BTW.. I am not saying to not do anything.. I am saying that we will have to find something more effective than writing letters.. Just asking for honest government will not be enough.. And may give a false hope.. WmA…
I think that my article today will shine a little light on the subject. The key is to get the masses to act, not just a few of us.
The masses only respond to pain and that pain is coming to a neighborhood near all of us real soon.
We depend on our leadership to do the right thing without supervision and that will never be the case.