Is it just me, or are the signs of consumer collapse as clear as a Lowes parking lot on a Saturday afternoon? Sometimes I wonder if I’m just seeing the world through my pessimistic lens, skewing my point of view. My daily commute through West Philadelphia is not very enlightening, as the squalor, filth and lack of legal commerce remain consistent from year to year. This community is sustained by taxpayer subsidized low income housing, taxpayer subsidized food stamps, welfare payments, and illegal drug dealing. The dependency attitude, lifestyles of slothfulness and total lack of commerce has remained constant for decades in West Philly. It is on the weekends, cruising around a once thriving suburbia, where you perceive the persistent deterioration and decay of our debt fixated consumer spending based society.
The last two weekends I’ve needed to travel the highways of Montgomery County, PA going to a family party and purchasing a garbage disposal for my sink at my local Lowes store. Montgomery County is the typical white upper middle class suburb, with tracts of McMansions dotting the landscape. The population of 800,000 is spread over a 500 square mile area. Over 81% of the population is white, with the 9% black population confined to the urban enclaves of Norristown and Pottstown.
The median age is 38 and the median household income is $75,000, 50% above the national average. The employers are well diversified with an even distribution between education, health care, manufacturing, retail, professional services, finance and real estate. The median home price is $300,000, also 50% above the national average. The county leans Democrat, with Obama winning 60% of the vote in 2008. The 300,000 households were occupied by college educated white collar professionals. From a strictly demographic standpoint, Montgomery County appears to be a prosperous flourishing community where the residents are living lives of relative affluence. But, if you look closer and connect the dots, you see fissures in this façade of affluence that spread more expansively by the day. The cheap oil based, automobile dependent, mall centric, suburban sprawl, sanctuary of consumerism lifestyle is showing distinct signs of erosion. The clues are there for all to see and portend a bleak future for those mentally trapped in the delusions of a debt dependent suburban oasis of retail outlets, chain restaurants, office parks and enclaves of cookie cutter McMansions. An unsustainable paradigm can’t be sustained.
The first weekend had me driving along Ridge Pike, from Collegeville to Pottstown. Ridge Pike is a meandering two lane road that extends from Philadelphia, winds through Conshohocken, Plymouth Meeting, Norristown, past Ursinus College in Collegeville, to the farthest reaches of Montgomery County, at least 50 miles in length. It served as a main artery prior to the introduction of the interstates and superhighways that now connect the larger cities in eastern PA. Except for morning and evening rush hours, this road is fairly sedate. Like many primary routes in suburbia, the landscape is engulfed by strip malls, gas stations, automobile dealerships, office buildings, fast food joints, once thriving manufacturing facilities sitting vacant and older homes that preceded the proliferation of cookie cutter communities that now dominate what was once farmland.
Telltale Signs
I should probably be keeping my eyes on the road, but I can’t help but notice the telltale signs of an economic system gone haywire. As you drive along, the number of For Sale signs in front of homes stands out. When you consider how bad the housing market has been, the 40% decline in national home prices since 2007, the 30% of home dwellers underwater on their mortgage, and declining household income, you realize how desperate a home seller must be to try and unload a home in this market. The reality of the number of For Sale signs does not match the rhetoric coming from the NAR, government mouthpieces, CNBC pundits, and other housing recovery shills about record low inventory and home price increases.
The Federal Reserve/Wall Street/U.S. Treasury charade of foreclosure delaying tactics and selling thousands of properties in bulk to their crony capitalist buddies at a discount is designed to misinform the public. My local paper lists foreclosures in the community every Monday morning. In 2009 it would extend for four full pages. Today, it still extends four full pages. The fact that Wall Street bankers have criminally forged mortgage documents, people are living in houses for two years without making mortgage payments, and the Federal Government backing 97% of all mortgages while encouraging 3.5% down financing does not constitute a true housing recovery. Show me the housing recovery in these charts.
Existing home sales are at 1998 levels, with 45 million more people living in the country today.
New single family homes under construction are below levels in 1969, when there were 112 million less people in the country.
Another observation that can be made as you cruise through this suburban mecca of malaise is the overall decay of the infrastructure, appearances and disinterest or inability to maintain properties. The roadways are potholed with fading traffic lines, utility poles leaning and rotting, and signage corroding and antiquated. Houses are missing roof tiles, siding is cracked, gutters astray, porches sagging, windows cracked, a paint brush hasn’t been utilized in decades, and yards are inundated with debris and weeds. Not every house looks this way, but far more than you would think when viewing the overall demographics for Montgomery County. You wonder how many number among the 10 million vacant houses in the country today. The number of dilapidated run down properties paints a picture of the silent, barely perceptible Depression that grips the country today. With such little sense of community in the suburbs, most people don’t even know their neighbors. With the electronic transfer of food stamps, unemployment compensation, and other welfare benefits you would never know that your neighbor is unemployed and hasn’t made the mortgage payment on his house in 30 months. The corporate fascist ruling plutocracy uses their propaganda mouthpieces in the mainstream corporate media and government agency drones to misinform and obscure the truth, but the data and anecdotal observational evidence reveal the true nature of our societal implosion.
A report by the Census Bureau this past week inadvertently reveals data that confirms my observations on the roadways of my suburban existence. Annual household income fell in 2011 for the fourth straight year, to an inflation-adjusted $50,054. The median income — meaning half earned more, half less — now stands 8.9% lower than the all-time peak of $54,932 in 1999. It is far worse than even that dreadful result. Real median household income is lower than it was in 1989. When you understand that real household income hasn’t risen in 23 years, you can connect the dots with the decay and deterioration of properties in suburbia. A vast swath of Americans cannot afford to maintain their residences. If the choice is feeding your kids and keeping the heat on versus repairing the porch, replacing the windows or getting a new roof, the only option is survival.
All races have seen their income fall, with educational achievement reflected in the much higher incomes of Whites and Asians. It is interesting to note that after a 45 year War on Poverty the median household income for black families is only up 19% since 1968.
Now for the really bad news. Any critical thinking person should realize the Federal Government has been systematically under-reporting inflation since the early 1980’s in an effort to obscure the fact they are debasing the currency and methodically destroying the lives of middle class Americans. If inflation was calculated exactly as it was in 1980, the GDP figures would be substantially lower and inflation would be reported 5% higher than it is today. Faking the numbers does not change reality, only the perception of reality. Calculating real median household income with the true level of inflation exposes the true picture for middle class America. Real median household income is lower than it was in 1970, just prior to Nixon closing the gold window and unleashing the full fury of a Federal Reserve able to print fiat currency and politicians to promise the earth, moon and the sun to voters. With incomes not rising over the last four decades is it any wonder many of our 115 million households slowly rot and decay from within like an old diseased oak tree. The slightest gust of wind can lead to disaster.
Eliminating the last remnants of fiscal discipline on bankers and politicians in 1971 accomplished the desired result of enriching the top 0.1% while leaving the bottom 90% in debt and desolation. The Wall Street debt peddlers, Military Industrial arms dealers, and job destroying corporate goliaths have reaped the benefits of financialization (money printing) while shoveling the costs, their gambling losses, trillions of consumer debt, and relentless inflation upon the working tax paying middle class. The creation of the Federal Reserve and implementation of the individual income tax in 1913, along with leaving the gold standard has rewarded the cabal of private banking interests who have captured our economic and political systems with obscene levels of wealth, while senior citizens are left with no interest earnings ($400 billion per year has been absconded from savers and doled out to bankers since 2008 by Ben Bernanke) and the middle class has gone decades seeing their earnings stagnate and their purchasing power fall precipitously.
The facts exposed in the chart above didn’t happen by accident. The system has been rigged by those in power to enrich them, while impoverishing the masses. When you gain control over the issuance of currency, issuance of debt, tax system, political system and legal apparatus, you’ve essentially hijacked the country and can funnel all the benefits to yourself and costs to the math challenged, government educated, brainwashed dupes, known as the masses. But there is a problem for the 0.1%. Their sociopathic personalities never allow them to stop plundering and preying upon the sheep. They have left nothing but carcasses of the once proud hard working middle class across the country side. There are only so many Lear jets, estates in the Hamptons, Jaguars, and Rolexes the 0.1% can buy. There are only 152,000 of them. Their sociopathic looting and pillaging of the national wealth has destroyed the host. When 90% of the population can barely subsist, collapse and revolution beckon.
Extend, Pretend & Depend
As I drove further along Ridge Pike we passed the endless monuments to our spiral into the depths of materialism, consumerism, and the illusion that goods purchased on credit represented true wealth. Mile after mile of strip malls, restaurants, gas stations, and office buildings rolled by my window. Anyone who lives in the suburbs knows what I’m talking about. You can’t travel three miles in any direction without passing a Dunkin Donuts, KFC, McDonalds, Subway, 7-11, Dairy Queen, Supercuts, Jiffy Lube or Exxon Station. The proliferation of office parks to accommodate the millions of paper pushers that make our service economy hum has been unprecedented in human history. Never have so many done so little in so many places. Everyone knows what a standard American strip mall consists of – a pizza place, a Chinese takeout, beer store, a tanning, salon, a weight loss center, a nail salon, a Curves, karate studio, Gamestop, Radioshack, Dollar Store, H&R Block, and a debt counseling service. They are a reflection of who we’ve become – an obese drunken species with excessive narcissistic tendencies that prefers to play video games while texting on our iGadgets as our debt financed lifestyles ultimately require professional financial assistance.
What you can’t ignore today is the number of vacant storefronts in these strip malls and the overwhelming number of SPACE AVAILABLE, FOR LEASE, and FOR RENT signs that proliferate in front of these dying testaments to an unsustainable economic system based upon debt fueled consumer spending and infinite growth assumptions. The booming sign manufacturer is surely based in China. The officially reported national vacancy rates of 11% are already at record highs, but anyone with two eyes knows these self-reported numbers are a fraud. Vacancy rates based on my observations are closer to 30%. This is part of the extend and pretend strategy that has been implemented by Ben Bernanke, Tim Geithner, the FASB, and the Wall Street banking cabal. The fraud and false storyline of a commercial real estate recovery is evident to anyone willing to think critically. The incriminating data is provided by the Federal Reserve in their Quarterly Delinquency Report.
The last commercial real estate crisis occurred in 1991. Mall vacancy rates were at levels consistent with today.
The current reported office vacancy rates of 17.5% are only slightly below the 19% levels of 1991.
As reported by the Federal Reserve, delinquency rates on commercial real estate loans in 1991 were 12%, leading to major losses among the banks that made those imprudent loans. Amazingly, after the greatest financial collapse in history, delinquency rates on commercial loans supposedly peaked at 8.8% in the 2nd quarter of 2010 and have now miraculously plummeted to pre-collapse levels of 4.9%. This is while residential loan delinquencies have resumed their upward trajectory, the number of employed Americans has fallen by 414,000 in the last two months, 9 million Americans have left the labor force since 2008, and vacancy rates are at or near all-time highs. This doesn’t pass the smell test. The Federal Reserve, owned and controlled by the Wall Street, instructed these banks to extend all commercial real estate loans, pretend they will be paid, and value them on their books at 100% of the original loan amount. Real estate developers pretend they are collecting rent from non-existent tenants, Wall Street banks pretend they are being paid by the developers, and their highly compensated public accounting firm pretends the loans aren’t really delinquent. Again, the purpose of this scam is to shield the Wall Street bankers from accepting the losses from their reckless behavior. Ben rewards them with risk free income on their deposits, propped up by mark to fantasy accounting, while they reward themselves with billions in bonuses for a job well done. The master plan requires an eventual real recovery that isn’t going to happen. Press releases and fake data do not change the reality on the ground.
I have two strip malls within three miles of my house that opened in 1990. When I moved to the area in 1995, they were 100% occupied and a vital part of the community. The closest center has since lost its Genuardi grocery store, Sears Hardware, Blockbuster, Donatos, Sears Optical, Hollywood Tans, hair salon, pizza pub and a local book store. It is essentially a ghost mall, with two banks, a couple chain restaurants and empty parking spaces. The other strip mall lost its grocery store anchor and sporting goods store. This has happened in an outwardly prosperous community. The reality is the apparent prosperity is a sham. The entire tottering edifice of housing, autos, and retail has been sustained by ever increasing levels of debt for the last thirty years and the American consumer has hit the wall. From 1950 through the early 1980s, when the working middle class saw their standard of living rise, personal consumption expenditures accounted for between 60% and 65% of GDP. Over the last thirty years consumption has relentlessly grown as a percentage of GDP to its current level of 71%, higher than before the 2008 collapse.
If the consumption had been driven by wage increases, then this trend would not have been a problem. But, we already know real median household income is lower than it was in 1970. The thirty years of delusion were financed with debt – peddled, hawked, marketed, and pushed by the drug dealers on Wall Street. The American people got hooked on debt and still have not kicked the habit. The decline in household debt since 2008 is solely due to the Wall Street banks writing off $800 billion of mortgage, credit card, and auto loan debt and transferring the cost to the already drowning American taxpayer.
The powers that be are desperately attempting to keep this unsustainable, dysfunctional debt choked scheme from disintegrating by doling out more subprime auto debt, subprime student loan debt, low down payment mortgages, and good old credit card debt. It won’t work. The consumer is tapped out. Last week’s horrific retail sales report for August confirmed this fact. Declining household income and rising costs for energy, food, clothing, tuition, taxes, health insurance, and the other things needed to survive in the real world, have broken the spirit of Middle America. The protracted implosion of our consumer society has only just begun. There are thousands of retail outlets to be closed, hundreds of thousands of jobs to be eliminated, thousands of malls to be demolished, and billions of loan losses to be incurred by the criminal Wall Street banks.
The Faces of Failure & Futility
My fourteen years working in key positions for big box retailer IKEA has made me particularly observant of the hubris and foolishness of the big chain stores that dominate the retail landscape. There are 1.1 million retail establishments in the United States, but the top 25 mega-store national chains account for 25% of all the retail sales in the country. The top 100 retailers operate 243,000 stores and account for approximately $1.6 trillion in sales, or 36% of all the retail sales in the country. Their misconceived strategic plans assumed 5% same store growth for eternity, economic growth of 3% per year for eternity, a rising market share, and ignorance of the possible plans of their competitors. They believed they could saturate a market without over cannibalizing their existing stores. Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, Home Depot and Lowes have all hit the limits of profitable expansion. Each incremental store in a market results in lower profits.
My trip to my local Lowes last weekend gave me a glimpse into a future of failure and futility. Until 2009, I had four choices of Lowes within 15 miles of my house. There was a store 8 miles east, 12 miles west, 15 miles north, and 15 miles south of my house. In an act of supreme hubris, Lowes opened a store smack in the middle of these four stores, four miles from my house. The Hatfield store opened in early 2009 and I wrote an article detailing how Lowes was about to ruin their profitability in Montgomery County. It just so happens that I meet a couple of my old real estate buddies from IKEA at a local pub every few months. In 2009 one of them had a real estate position with Lowes and we had a spirited discussion about the prospects for the Lowes Hatfield store. He assured me it would be a huge success. I insisted it would be a dud and would crush the profitability of the market by cannibalizing the other four stores. We met at that same pub a few months ago. Lowes had laid him off and he admitted to me the Hatfield store was a disaster.
I pulled into the Lowes parking lot at 11:30 am on a Saturday. Big Box retailers do 50% of their business on the weekend. The busiest time frame is from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm on Saturday. Big box retailers build enough parking spots to handle this peak period. The 120,000 square feet Hatfield Lowes has approximately 1,000 parking spaces. I pulled into the spot closest to the entrance during their supposed peak period. There were about 70 cars in the parking lot, with most probably owned by Lowes workers. It is a pleasure to shop in this store, with wide open aisles, and an employee to customer ratio of four to one. The store has 14 checkout lanes and at peak period on a Saturday, there was ONE checkout lane open, with no lines. This is a corporate profit disaster in the making, but the human tragedy far overrides the declining profits of this mega-retailer.
As you walk around this museum of tools and toilets you notice the looks on the faces of the workers. These aren’t the tattooed, face pierced freaks you find in many retail establishments these days. They are my neighbors. They are the beaten down middle class. They are the middle aged professionals who got cast aside by the mega-corporations in the name of efficiency, outsourcing, right sizing, stock buybacks, and executive stock options. The irony of this situation is lost on those who have gutted the American middle class. When you look into the eyes of these people, you see sadness, confusion and embarrassment. They know they can do more. They want to do more. They know they’ve been screwed, but they aren’t sure who to blame. They were once the very customers propelling Lowes’ growth, buying new kitchens, appliances, and power tools. Now they can’t afford a can of paint on their $10 per hour, no benefit retail careers. As depressing as this portrait appears, it is about to get worse.
This Lowes will be shut down and boarded up within the next two years. The parking lot will become a weed infested eyesore occupied by 14 year old skateboarders. One hundred and fifty already down on their luck neighbors will lose their jobs, the township will have a gaping hole in their tax revenue, and the CEO of Lowes will receive a $50 million bonus for his foresight in announcing the closing of 100 stores that he had opened five years before. This exact scenario will play out across suburbia, as our unsustainable system comes undone. Our future path will parallel the course of the labor participation rate. Just as the 9 million Americans who have “left” the labor force since 2008 did not willfully make that choice, the debt burdened American consumer will be dragged kicking and screaming into the new reality of a dramatically reduced standard of living.
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Connecting the dots between my anecdotal observations of suburbia and a critical review of the true non-manipulated data bestows me with a not optimistic outlook for the coming decade. Is what I’m seeing just the view of a pessimist, or are you seeing the same thing?
A few powerful men have hijacked our economic, financial and political structure. They aren’t socialists or capitalists. They’re criminals. They created the culture of materialism, greed and debt, sustained by prodigious levels of media propaganda. Our culture has been led to believe that debt financed consumption over morality and justice is the path to success. In reality, we’ve condemned ourselves to a slow painful death spiral of debasement and despair.
“A culture that does not grasp the vital interplay between morality and power, which mistakes management techniques for wisdom, and fails to understand that the measure of a civilization is its compassion, not its speed or ability to consume, condemns itself to death.” – Chris Hedges
“abalama says:
I was in a Lowes last week returning an item ; and the clerks were talking among themselves. I asked if I had heard right. They confirmed and complained that the manager was receiving a $20,000.00 bonus…………”
Jealous much? Managing one of those stores is a large responsibility. How do you know the manager wasn’t working 60-80 hrs/week? 20K is not a huge sum of money for a yearly bonus. I like this site but just like theeconomiccollapseblog.com, there are a lot of envious people that seem to frequent here.
Bust up the golden calves, bust up the big banks, bust up the big corporations, bust up big government. We did not have those when the middle class was making a good wage and it was easy to go into business. When large sums of money are pooled together; as it is abundantly so today, and enter the market for investment it creates an unfair playing field. The big guy controls the local market (global corporations and big box stores) and drives every small guy out of business.
Moses was angry when he came down from the mountain and saw the golden calf that the Hebrews made in the wilderness. He busted it up into rubble and had those responsible killed. Now our society is doing the same thing and we are wondering what went wrong that many can’t earn a descent wage? These golden calves of today are getting bigger and sucking all remaining wealth to themselves because their leverage in the markets have the power to do it. It is time to break them up before we become a plantation society with few owners and armies of economic slaves to them.
Rob in Nova scotia:
“quit reading Mein Kampf? conspiracy?”
My uncle spent five miserable years in Siberia fighting for his country and died shortly after. My grandfather on my mothers side was stripped of his wealth by the soviet communists (Khazars) and my mother had to flee her country and ended up in America.
You talk of conspiracy? You bet, it is a real conspiracy! Do some research. My aim is to warn America of what has been going on all these years since Roosevelt; to undermine us. I Love America and spent more than the usual time in the military defending her. The cold war is real. It never ended when the iron curtain went down. The Khazars are real and have been subverting this country since WW1.
Take off your rose colored glasses and get an education.
Graet article and great comments. At this point in history it is inconcievable to me, people can not comprehend the degree to which they have been decieived by the “Khazars”. But who am I to talk, I shot a President all by myself!
Over the past 14 years, God Almighty has spoken to this ministry about America. Our president has defiantly contradicted Him, most recently at the World Trade Center on Flag Day. Here is the CNN account:
Dateline New York World Trade Center worksite, 14 June 2012, Flag Day
According to reporters at the scene, Obama wrote on the steel beam: “We remember we rebuild we come back stronger! Barack Obama”
But here is what the Lord said just recently, and it corresponds to many similar things He has spoken over the years:
“SHE WILL SELL HERSELF”
Monday, 13 August 2012:
“I am planning an immense fall for America, says the Lord, a fall that will desolate and amaze her people. I am sending America sliding over the cliff into financial ruin. America’s fall has only begun, and there are many more chapters to be written before the tale is told. I am bringing financial ruin to this nation. And when I am through, her wealth will be scattered and gone, and she will sell herself for a piece of bread.
“Walk softly before Me in these days, says the Lord. For I am forming My people into My image even as I bring down America around you, says the Lord Who has mercy on you. Amen and amen.”
On 13 September 2011, the Lord spoke these chilling words:
“Defenses are futile against Me, says the Lord. When I am determined to fight against a nation, no power can overcome Me. I obliterate everything in which man trusts, and I do unto that nation as I please.
“I am hammering your nation and destroying your defenses. I am undermining every vain thing in which you trust and bringing down every stronghold on which you rely. When I am done, a breath will bring you down, O America. Your destruction will be complete and will horrify the world. And I will not stop or turn aside until all My will is fulfilled, says the Lord of hosts this day. Amen and amen.”
Notice the “a breath will bring you down” phrase. When we saw the reference in the article to “a gust of wind,” we knew what it meant. The author may not know the Lord, but the Holy Spirit has used people unawares many times, even in the New Testament, to speak His Words.
For God’s perspective of what is going on in America, please read The Harbinger, by Jonathan Cahn. It will explain the whys and wherefores of the 9/11 attack and the Wall Street crash of 2008. It will also show clearly why there must be a bigger, more devastating stroke of God’s judgment on this nation. For that scenario, google A.C. Valdez. Then repent and call on the Lord Jesus for salvation. Amen.
Thanks for an outstanding, though disturbing, article.
This is not going to be popular, but here it goes:
People cry their jobs are being shipped overseas. But this is important to get through thick skulls => the American people did it to themselves.
They won’t buy American because American products tend to cost a little more. Result: companies are FORCED to relocate to Asia, or else go out of business.
Remember the “Live Better, Shop Walmart” saying? How did that work out for ya?
Example: Vermont Tubbs snowshoes were once proudly made in Vermont. Not anymore. Why? Because Asian knock-offs were selling for 2/3rds the price so most Americans stopped buying the Tubbs brand.
American purchasing habits forced Tubbs to move operations overseas. It was either that or go out of business because Americans were choosing the cheaper Asian-made product. Multiply that by a million other businesses.
So your neighbors working in big box stores are a result of their own purchasing decisions! It caught up with them, driving their own jobs overseas and leaving only the sales positions (selling Asian products) in the USA big box stores.
Corporations did not move jobs overseas => the actions of Americans did.
Is it .01% or .1% that equals the 152,000 people? The graph shows one value, the article says the other. Which one is the typo?
The graph is right. I fixed the typo. Good catch.
I do not know this Lord that G&J speaks to.
Ron,
Nice reasoning. You might be right.
But I find it hard to blame Americans for wanting to save a few bucks, especially in this time of ever increasing wages and near zero inflation.
Wal-Mart’s advertising campaign in the early 1990s revolved around them only selling products made in America. They could have maintained that policy and it would have been hugely beneficial to manufacturing in the U.S. as Wal-Mart quadrupled in size. They didn’t switch this policy until Sam Walton died.
In the mid-1990s, Walmart had a “Buy American” campaign. Yet by 2005, about 60% of Walmart’s merchandise was imported, compared to 6% in 1995. In 2004, Walmart spent $18 billion on Chinese products alone, and if it were an individual economy, the company would rank as China’s eighth largest trading partner, ahead of Russia, Australia, and Canada. One group estimates that the growing US trade deficit with China, heavily influenced by Walmart imports, is estimated to have moved over 1.5 million jobs that might otherwise be in America to China between 1989 and 2003.
Well, duh.
Profit seeks cheap labor.
And declining wages seek cheaper consumables.
Its a race to Platocracy.
Ewe Dammed iStupad Sheople.
Thunderbird Have have one degree and three diplomas. So don’t worry about my education. As far as your grandparents I don’t fucking care if they broke rocks on the moon. You talk conspiacy bullshit please so provide facts. Better still please explain to everyone how this has anything to do with what was written by Admin.
I was driving by a scrap yard today and saw that scrap prices are still at their all time highs. I was wondering if the whole world is slowing down why are junk prices still so high?
You know, the root of all this was summed up about a century ago by an Englishman named Rudyard Kipling in a poem titled “The Gods of the Copybook Headings”. For your consideration…
AS I PASS through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.
We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.
We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place,
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.
With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.
When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “Stick to the Devil you know.”
On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “The Wages of Sin is Death.”
In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “If you don’t work you die.”
Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.
As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool’s bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;
And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!
Rob in Nova scotia:
No need to convince you. Already get your drift. Words are like shadows on the wall. Those that turn around and look at who is casting the shadows; and why, will see the truth.
@Administrator: From about 1980 up to say 2008 CPI understated inflation because food and energy are not included. But from about 2008 CPI understated inflation because rents started to fall in say 2006 or 2007. The BLS still assumes rents are rising (OER component) but in the REAL world rents are falling.
Food and energy have always been included in CPI. They are not included in the ridiculous made up term – Core CPI.
Thunderbird your head is so far up you ass you have to breath thru your ears.
Correction:
From about 2008 CPI overstated inflation because rents started to fall in say 2006 or 2007.
Apartment rents heading higher for 3rd year in a row
By Julie Schmit, USA TODAY
Apartment rents are expected to jump again this year as the U.S. economy creates more jobs and demand for rental housing grows.
2012 increase would make the third straight year of rising rents. More annual increases are expected as apartment builders hustle to catch up with demand.
“You could see 10 years of a strong apartment market,” says Ronald Johnsey, president of apartment market researcher Axiometrics.
The firm, which surveys 20,000 properties a month, expects apartment rents to jump 5.5% in 2012. MPF Research sees a 4.5% increase, while researcher Reis expects a 3% increase, although that forecast may change, says senior economist Ryan Severino.
Reis estimates rents rose 2.3% last year. Axiometrics says 4.4%, and MPF says 4.7%.
For most small farms there never was a lack of work or things to do … from one season to the next. Each one of use should imagine ourselves trying to make a living on that basis … surviving by the
sweat of our own efforts and the occasional contribution of a family member or an assistant, friend, hired hand or a fellow farmer. When we begin to think that this is hard work and go to town to get a job, we immediately lose our independence and self reliant nature. WE also go into a WORLD of greater dependence on each other and THE FEW GOOD JOBS THAT EXIST. Make no mistake about your expectations; if you are in the city, you are totally dependent on someone else for your survival.
Your ability to save for the future becomes even more uncertain. Do you have a small farm or even a
garden? Do you know how to grow your own food? Does your small plot of land have its own water
source to nourish your garden/farm land? Living in the city allows us to ignore these minor
considerations … going without in the city allows us more time to think how can I steal from my
neighbor and that is where we are … No Farm/No Job … NO PLANS !!!
Well, if rents are rising then these landlords are setting themselves up for a BIG disappointment. because more and more americans won’t be able to afford to those higher rents any more. Do combine that with government cutbacks and one has a recipe for disaster.
In the region I live rents have been falling since early 2010. And those landlords that initailly refused to lower rents have seen their vacancy rates go up.
Rob in Nova scotia says:
“please explain to everyone how this has anything to do with what was written by Admin” that is, “Are you seeing what I’m seeing?”
Admin is seeing reality while we have and are being told not to believe what we are seeing. They use words with double meaning (shadows on the wall) to tell us everything is OK while they are eating us alive. I am saying, turn around and look at who is casting these shadows on the wall; and why. I point out one way to start your education in a very well documented book, “The Iron Curtain Over America,” by John Beaty. Then me lists the word “Khazar” for anyone to look up and find all the documentation and history of this word so people can begin to break through all the years of censorship the american public has endured so these people can hide their deeds in the layers of misinformation and word fog (propaganda) their controlled media spews out. One thing they did not count on is the openness of the internet to investigate and find the truth among all the misinformation.
Admin is showing us the reality of a contracting economy. My comments are offering the why of our contracting economy. Let anyone who looks make their judgment of the validity of my comments. Facts are only points of view. My point of view is anti-communist. What’s yours?
Khazars — Turks that converted to Judaism in the Middle Ages …. buffer state between the Islamic world and the Christian world …. Khazaria prevented Islam from significantly spreading north of the Caucasus Mountains … instrumental in the formation of capitalism … supposedly sculted the modern world to a remarkable degree …. supposedly they are the REAL Jews, while Zionists are fake Jews …… pretty much wiped out by 965.
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Fucking fascinating. Groovy shit. Conspiracies out the asshole. Did I mention … fucking fascinating?
Whatever the fuck this has to do with Admin’s post will remain a mystery wrapped inside T-bird’s neurons. The rest of us will just have to try to fuckin guess what the hell he’s talking about … or, not. Fucking fascinating.
Thanks Stucky for nice graphic. The only reason I originally called bullshit on Thunderbird was because he made allegation that Roosevelt’s deal with Stalin at Yalta was influenced by the Khazars. He made statement without any facts to back it up.
Putting myself in Roosevelt’s shoes for a minute what choice did he have but accept deal laid out for him. Stalin had several million pissed off soldiers raping and pillaging there way across Europe and he needed to get them to stop somewhere around Berlin. The only other choice he had was to sue for peace with Hitler and start WW3.
Anyway according to T-Bird we can blame everything (30 blocks of squalor, made in China junk at Wal-mart, sub-prime lending and on and on.) on the Khazars. I wonder how many in the welfare/moocher class can even point to Europe on a map let alone know of a group of people who by all accounts have dissappeared over a 1000 years ago.
I still would like to thank Thunderbird at least now when I forget to take garbage out on Thursday I’ll have an excuse when wife asks me why I forgot.
Very good Rob and Stucky. You just need to update your new education of the Khazars. The Khazar Empire was crushed by Russian and Byzantine forces and so they migrated all through Eastern Europe and Russia. In Russia the Khazars became known as the Bolsheviks, then when they took over Russia and converted it to the atheist Soviet Union they became communists. So Roosevelt’s deal with Stalin at Yalta was influenced by the Khazars; but under the name of communists.
The Khazars are not related to the Jewish people by birth and are not descendants of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. Keep up the good work!
Thunderbird you should have been drowned at birth. Roosevelt didn’t have a deal it was a fait accompli. The Khazars became the Bolsheviks. Oh my god he has spoken once again and not presented a shred of evidence. My fuck Thunderbird you are about the smartest person I have had pleasure of coming across. What the fuck did this cabal of world dominating losers do for 1000 years between getting crushed by Russia and Byzantium and taking control of Soviet Union in 1917. Oh I know they hid in caves to wait for their chance to seek power. And who cares from who they are descendant.
Arguing with you is like trying to reason with HAL-9000 in 2001. The only solution is to pull the plug and watch the lights go out. Problem is I doubt very much if they were ever on to begin with.
QE3 will lower the value of the dollar. In this way, it will increase inflation commodity and related inflation. However, general inflation may not occur. The best example is the Japanese economic stagnation due to government manipulation of low interest rates during the 10 plus years that has not dramatically increased general inflation. The basic reason is that demand for money (increased velocity of money) has remained low because demand for goods and services and investment has remained low. This is the same impoverishment of the most people due to excessive government intrusion in the economy that is occurring under the Obama administration. A real improvement in the economy will not occur until socialist economic and societal government policies are reversed. The signal for an improving economy will be increased net new business investment, not the phoney government investment proclaimed by socialists like Obama.
In the last paragraph, I see, “A few powerful men have hijacked our economic, financial and political structure.” I’m wondering if people have considered that the structure might be part of the problem ? Hierarchical structure sucks in regards to the uneven distribution of power. The evil is in the imbalance, particularly at/close to the apex where we find the greatest assistance to “the greed factor”. Greed in of itself is harmless. It is only greed combined with the leverage of position that creates a problem for the rest. You cannot pour new wine into old wine skins.
Rob, I am not arguing with you. I presented the path for looking into the truth of history. I don’t expect you to agree for your own reasons and bias; but it is there weather you like it or not.
The “NOW” is formed by the past as the future will be formed by the “NOW” and the “PAST.” History paints the picture for those that want to know. Then there are those that don’t want the truth spoken.
Thunderbird you are an idiot. I took your advice regrettably and read the Beaty rant. It can best be described as the coles notes version of Mein Kampf. How would I know this you ask well I read that fucking book too! If this helps let me peer into the gaping void between your ears than I have to go back to what Stucky said “a mystery wrapped inside T-bird’s neurons” and ask like he did the following question. What the fuck does this have to do with an empty parking lot at Lowes on a Saturday. Please don’t give me this passive aggresive condesending follow the path bullshit either. My ex-wife used to do that to me, it didn’t work then and it won’t work now.
Greetings and salutations Admin et al
.
I can sincerely identify with the author here. I grew up in Blue Bell, Pa. A once shining example of an agrarian/equestrian countryside in the 60’s and 70’s. I had the benefit of an excellent education in Chestnut Hill and Pottstown. Within 20 years, however, “progress” could be distinctly measured by urban/commercial sprawl replacing farm land, and high property taxes converting once proud farming/equestrian estates into sub-divisions.
In the years that followed, my tenure as a central banking policy “interpreter”, petroleum economist, and corporate underwriter, slowly but surely lifted the wool over my eyes. The rampant rage of mergers and acquisitions in the 80’s and 90’s, linear progression of technology molding business models, and regulatory/policy mandates convoluting the entrepreneurial spirit and robbing the citizenry blind became mind numbing.
On my trips back to Blue Bell over the last 20 years, the people have become increasing despondent, businesses struggle, and conspicuous consumption is ever more prevalent. A sad state of affairs, indeed. And as the author points out, the real suffering is just only beginning.
While the author is quite realistic in his assessment, I can only hope the citizens of this nation can come to their senses and identify those solutions that are in their best interest, starting with survival. The big question that remains, however, will they be allowed to do so? If they are not… the “Haves” will simply leave, with their money… and the “Have-Nots” will suffer an even greater economic demise.
“What the fuck does this have to do with an empty parking lot at Lowes on a Saturday.” —- Rob in Nova Scotia
OK.
1. Turkey
2. Turkey folks covert to Judaism, circa 750AD, call themselves Khazars
3. Joo Khazars cease to exist, circa 970AD
4. Joo Khazars move to Bulgaria and surrounding nations
5. Rename themselves Bolsheviks around 1917 for no real fuckin reason
6. Lowe’s founded in 1946 by a Joo from Bulgaria
7. Lowe’s stock in 2012 is crap.
8. Lowe’s = turkey.
Hope this helps.
Thanks Stucky It all makes sense now.
It is amazing how the thought patterns of certain different cultures of the past never change. The Muslims have their thoughts and beliefs and the Klazars had theirs coming from the Babylonian Talmud which they adapted. The Klazars changed their identity as they migrated into different parts of the world; including America where many of them Americanized their last names.
A feature of the Babylonian Talmud is the many thousands of laws; some contradictory, about how people are supposed to live and conduct their lives. Isn’t it ironic how our laws here in this modern country are being used to tell us all how to live, down to personal details. Every year thousands of laws and ordinances are made that intrude into our lives. Where is God in all this?
The subversion of America is not coming from truly American thought; but from the thoughts of immigrants wanting to change us. Thoughts passed on from generation to generation of foreign immigrants ending up in America.
America began as a Christian nation with Christian thought and values. All these laws that intrude into our lives are foreign creatures. With Christian values we can live by grace. The ten commandments sum it up. All these other laws we now live under do not come from Christian values; they are man generated with all our human flaws ingrained in them. They are designed to give control to a few over the many.
Okay at lunch today I promised I’d be civil to everyone for rest of week. Maybe Stucky can add something to this because I give up.
@Mikael Olsson:
Your conclusions and criticisms, based on your obviously Keynesian theories, just don’t hold water.
“…Correlation is not causation. All the world didn’t leave gold standard at the same time.”
Essentially, the world did leave the gold standard at the same time. In 1940, prior to Bretton Woods, the US held about 2/3 of all world government gold reserves. European countries had gone off the gold standard during WWI. When US left the gold standard in 1971, that left most of the industrialized world with fiat currencies backed by nothing but smoke and mirrors.
… what happens when the population increases (or someone saves a lot of money) in a fixed currency system? Yes, obviously deflation.”
A currency backed by something besides “faith & credit” doesn’t necessarily make it fixed. Gold, or other forms of real asset backing, can be produced and increased, so currency backed by those assets can be increased in amount also, even if the currency/commodity exchange rate is fixed. The growth of the money supply though, would be limited by the availability of the backing commodity, so growth is restrained by real production. Your statement that this “obviously” produces deflation is false. It would only lead to deflation if the supply of other goods/services for which the currency may be exchanged grows at a faster rate than the production of the commodity(ies) backing the currency.
“Who does that benefit?”
I assume you’re referring to deflation with your question, even though your assumption of deflation with a backed currency is wrong. Deflation benefits savers, i.e. those who postpone consumption, by making their labor, stored for future use in the form of money, worth more in goods/services at a later time. This is as it should be, in order to balance the human desire for immediate graitification with the human need to postpone some consumption in order to provide for a time in which they’ll not be able to produce enough daily labor to meet their needs (retirement). Saving also makes greater amounts of capital available for business and economic expansion, because that saved money is generally invested somewhere (banks, brokerages, etc.) by its owners until desired for consumption. Remember that people do not desire money – they desire the things money can buy. A greater supply of economic capital makes the production of desirable goods/services easier and less costly, until the price of those goods becomes too low to resist, thus rebalancing supply and demand.
“What we have is over capacity. And no demand.”
Wrong. If what you say was true prices would be falling. (They aren’t). People desire all the stuff they can get their hands on (demand exists) . They just can’t afford all they desire.
“Because producers don’t need to hire.”
Wrong again. It is people’s productive labor in one form or another that produces profit, so producers DO need to hire if they want to produce goods/services from which they may profit. They won’t do so however, if the likelihood of profit is curtailed by a high cost of production, and by a lack of saved capital that may be used to purchase the finished goods. Production costs are high in the US because labor demands are high, regulatory expenses are ridiculously high, and capital is being hoarded by the banks rather than loaned to businesses. (Why would banks loan to a business with default risk when they can loan to government at a perceived zero risk?)
“How does a return to the gold standard fix that? Easy – it doesn’t.”
Wrong once more. The return to a gold standard prevents the Fed from creating money from nothing. and giving the banking system money at 0% interest. If the banks can’t get money at 0% from the Fed, they’ll have to actually pay people a market rate of interest for deposits, that they can lend to earn a profit. The gold standard also prevents the government from borrowing until they’re blue in the face, because there would be a market rate of interest charged on borrowing that they couldn’t inflate away. The government would have to live within its means. Banks would have to lend to someone besides the government to make a profit. Business growth is fueled. Jobs are created.
“How does gold standard work in a globalized economy – especially in a country running a trade deficit? Ow. Ow. Ow.”
This was Nixon’s excuse for closing the gold window. Pure bull. Has eliminating the gold standard reduced the trade deficit? Hell, no. A backed currency works BETTER in a globalized economy than in a non-global one because nations with unbacked currencies would see their currencies become worth less when compared to a fully backed dollar. Our rising dollar would buy lots more great stuff than ever before, thus raising the US standard of living. Yes, other nations would find it more expensive to buy stuff produced in the US when priced in their own currencies, but they’d soon realize they’d rather have the “stuff” than the crummy unbacked currency of their own country. Don’t forget that it’s not money that makes you wealthy, it’s the “stuff”.
“I fully expect the richest people in the world to utterly hate both of them. That tells me there’s useful ideas in there.”
This is the most telling comment you made, and proves your bias, not your understanding of economics. Just because a given economic policy isn’t detrimental to those with money and “stuff”, doesn’t automatically make it good social policy.
The author sounds like an advocate of Agenda 21 to me.
While much of everything here is right on, the entire blame cannot be foisted on others. It is you, the American consumer, that added much fuel to the fire and continue to do so.
You ran to the internet and to big box stores, thus wiping out the small, community owned shops.
It was you who bought everything you could not really afford, thus running up debt you didn’t need.
It was you who bought things made overseas because they were cheaper or the newest electronic toy (al la the new i-phone 5, made overseas).
Yes, the greedy pigs and bankers did their share, but if you want to see the equally bad offenders, go look into the mirror.
DrJCA1: You are assuming the general public act on their intellect and reason… they don’t but rather act on emotion. This is why it is important that we have leaders with wisdom to lead the herd. Instead we have gangs of suited men with amoral criminal minds running everything.
With a gold standard we are forced to spend within our means and save money for the high ticket items we desire. We are forced to build or purchase a small house at first and add to it or trade up later when we can afford it. We are disposed to purchase high quality durable goods that last a long time.
Are we not seeing the demise of a plastic society built on fantasy rather than sound monetary policy?
When the dust settles and the fiat currency fails we can rebuild with a solid foundation providing we no longer listen to the lies we are being fed by the current crop of politicians that sold us out for their own gain.
Many of us have lot’s of stuff that we can trade or barter to get through the rough times when the currency fails and trade stops. We are rich with stuff. This country is the largest producer of food which we are lucky to have. When the currency fails all transactions will have to stop in the fiat dollar until other gold backed currency is created and distributed by the various States.
Imports will slowdown to raw materials that we will have to pay for by gold. Deflation will at first be the norm until production at the local level increases. Demand will spar production which will create jobs… not from the corporations; which will be closed down, but from small business which will return.
New silver and gold mines will open in the west (California, Nevada, Arizona) / because the demand will be there. New communities will come into existence due to the increase in mining in the inter-mountain states.
the evil system in place that controls us at all levels of government cannot be maintained for much longer. We have been duped into believing that we need this system. We do not. This system rules by fear and the use of fiat money system. When this money system collapses it is all over for the wizards behind the curtain.
In the past we had civilizations that thrived without electricity, computers, or the internet & iphones. I am not advocating that we go back to that as it is an advantage our civilization has over the past ones. I am just pointing out that a collapse of our corrupted system will not be the end of the world… and we can then build a better one.
The young people have to take the ball and run with it.
Thunderbird you forgot to mention we were on gold standard in 1929. However being a wise moral christian it must have just slipped your mind.
Rob iNs calls Tbird out and forgot:
George Carlin – “Never argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.”
and then proves the quote with the 1929 reference.
Meanwhile, Dr~ loves aggregates and cannot see his reflection. Transylvania much?
Novista
touché
Novista!
Where’ve you been? I was afraid the reaper caught you looking….
Hey, your “Money In America” posts have me far ahead in a class. Except for a “progressive” undertone, as most classes have, I have been answering questions like a nerd. Prof was amazed someone knew what bimetalism was.
Yes, it’s time to leave the conversation… attitude is taking over and always leads to nowhere.
yes
@Administrator: I don’t believe the CPI graph, you posted earlier, because it doesn’t show the impact of falling commoditiy prices in the 2nd half of 2008 and the 1st half of 2009.
Great article, but I would argue the problems are even deeper and there is a wider assignment of culpability that needs to be considered. It not just the .1%. Labor bears a large part in the current situation as well. This 11 percent fights innovation, encourages the belief in entitlement in its membership and has never embraced white color worker “college boys”. Like any political organization, union leadership is more interested in maintaining its head count and getting votes than any real interest in furthering middle class interests. And as bad as the Wall Street crowd is, the middle class and organized labor are not groups of children and I ask, where is their responsibility as it relates to our Republics decline.
With 8 billion people, labor is a pure commodity. However skilled labor, in great shortage in the US, goes uncultivated by both the political system and Unions.
Further issues with our future remains with college and our children’s academic choices. We saddle families with debt so our kids can be marketing and PR majors (who doesn’t like TV and shopping) instead of desperately needed skilled labor such as developers and engineers. More narcissism in the golden age of narcissistic pursuits.
The final, untenable issue I would mention is simply put, the culture of us vs. them. The society is rife with criminal thinking, not just Wall Street. The overarching attitude is cheating – be it in the form of unethical financial policies, or cheating the clock at work and rigging overtime – is given moral cover throughout our society now as “the other guy started it”. We are not a homogenous people and increasing rob from each other with justification, because our neighbor started it. Short of something like WWII, we will continue our descent as a people, eating each other’s lunch.
Novista have to thank you again for George Carlin quote it made my day. I just got done arguing with the boss’s son at work about how to layout a truss assembly drawing for shop expansion. Anyway I’m a drafter and have been for long time. He tried to explain to me how drawing should be done. Eventually I cried uncle after remembering the quote.
Part of the reason I like coming to site like this is because Jim takes time to back up his observations with facts and charts. I am not an expert on economy but reading articles like the ones here gives me a chance to view current events with a camera eye. It has made slighly jaded about how society works. Part of the problem, I think, is the complete disconnect now between money and work caused by debt. I am currently working on a road project here in county of Antigonish, a distance of about 14km. Not sure what that works out to in miles but by the time all the bridges and new highway are completed we will have spent nearly 200 million dollars. My point is the county has less than 20,000 people living here and once you take away all the people too lazy, too old or too sick to work it doesn’t leave many left to pay for it. The standard response I hear from wonks in these parts is funding is coming from federal and provincial governments. As if that makes cost of road somewhat more palatable. Problem is every other one horse town in this country is trying to do same thing. There is no grand conspiracy just local vanities trumping common sense when it comes to spending money. I guess that in a nutshell sums up the insanity of world right now.
Three Hundred thumbs up at 10:24, bitchezz!!!!
Sincerely,
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Thumb Whore
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Colma!
I had a visit from my best friend that I last saw 40 years ago. Finally tracked him down with some clever googles late last year, and the outcome was he arrived first part of month and was here three weeks.Everything else went by the wayside, now I’m back.
Glad my narrative history has proved useful for you; call me a cynic but I’m amazed the progressive prof knew what bimetallism was. Heh.
I’ll have to catch up with the BR posts I missed.
Rob in Nova Scotia
LOL, the opportunity to launch that quote was too good to miss; wasn’t really a sideswipe at T-bird just an opportunity. STMs do that, nothing personal. And it proved its value. 🙂
I see a thumb whore above and at the risk of being a blog whore, I ask if you perchance have seen my “Money in America” series here. No, I am not an expert on economics (is anyone?!) but I do careful research, thus a narrative.
14 km = 8.7 miles. I’d say you got a bargain estimate, even with bridges to nowhere. Then again, I am not a civil engineer — or an uncivil one. Hmmm, some in my former field might disagree.
Argh, the naive belief in ‘government money’ … it’s like, when they hang up the piñata, everybody wants a whack at it. Not many understand what money really is; a medium of exchange, yes, but in the final analysis, sound money is a measure of productivity. Go back to the barter days, and one comes to market with some corn, then needs to find someone who wants that commodity until you find someone and trade for something someone else wants -and- has what you really want.
That’s where the ‘medium of exchange’ notion comes from. OTOH, if you come to the market with a ”need’ and no product, you’ll go away empty-handed. Unless you find the ‘kindness of strangers.’
Meanwhile, a government produces nothing but dead trees and impediments to the productive and then taxes them to help the unproductive, wage pointless wars, subsidize cronies, shred that goddamn piece of paper on a daily basis, meddle in every aspect of life and generally manage to fuck up a wet dream. The one thing you can say is, they are consistent in their ineptitude.
Novista you were only pointing out the obvious. As for the highway I suppose it is needed but when government cannot pay the bills it already has I find it hard to understand taking on more debt. You say government produces nothing the minister in charge of highways would disagree. There is a sign at beginning of road construction. The sign gives cost of project plus a line from the Minister of Infrastructure stating “Providing Good Jobs for Nova Scotians”. I laugh everytime I drive by it but it seems that I’m the only one that gets the joke. What’s a fella to do, I have to admit it is providing a job for me. I do worry about my unborn grand-children won’t be able to put food on table 30 years from now because of something I’m doing right now. However everything is buy now pay later so I should not be surprised that we are doing the same thing with jobs as well.
I’ll have to check out the series and get up to speed on economy. I’m sure it will be better than last book I read. How do I go about getting a download. Cheers.