The Dow and S&P were both up today. The economy is [allegedly] growing. Everything is on track and will be wonderful in the future, right?
Yeah sure.
The experts — at least the ones that don’t have their heads stuck in the sand — know that a real recovery means people will have to spend more money. In an environment where the Bureau of Labor Statistics quietly admits that real unemployment is 16.7%, and some groups have unemployment rates as high as 28%, that seems unlikely to happen.
Almost 11% of houses sit empty, mostly in urban areas. Eventually these homes will either be renovated or bulldozed. Experts predict a boom in apartments, without bothering to mention that’s because it will be a long time before a typical American has a downpayment. Just a reminder: the housing crash means that not only can workers not afford to move to Where The Jobs Are, workers can’t afford to start small businesses either.
Union membership is down. This does mean that wages are going down because nobody is there to fight for a living wage. It means that stable jobs are gone, because there’s nobody to demand them. It’s also a symptom of the fact that we can’t seem to make much of anything more durable than a latte in this country.
So wages are down, unemployment is high, houses are money pits rather than assets. But hey, they’re having a party on Wall Street. Maybe there’s leftover cake.
In closing: no; LOOKOUT (or just be sane); and how does that fix the radiation?; more on Jack LaLanne; an idea whose time has come; childhood obesity; solve the puzzle, win a prize; it must be nice; on health care; yes, Albania; that too; puzzling; and in case you wondered.
Touching on so many other issues left unmentioned, I should like to announce that I am making my contribution to the U.S. economy by purchasing something still made in America: a Springfield Armory M1A.
And speaking of manufacturing in America: how about Free Trade Zones or Special Economic Zones? Don’t like having to wait for, and the growing expense of your Chinese goods? Well they can be made right here in America, on “Chinese soil,” saving the time and expense of extracting raw materials (arguably a National resource) and shipping them to China (and Honduras and Paki…) only to have to ship product back.
Rental Boom? Someone (my pardons for dis-remembering ) argued recently that Banks may be considering, or should consider revising their buisness model for entering the property management buisness in a big way; this to address the abundance of properties they have now “re-owned.”