Resuming Regular Transmissions But First
I'm home after 7 days on the American prairie and this is not a cheer leading post either. My overall impression; we have made a catastrophic mistake because a harsh reality is forthcoming. The great real estate grab is roaring toward a halt. The cash excavation machine consumed everything connected to the American Dream.
Let me begin with a story told by Brent who owns a business on the prairie. A couple whose combined income equaled around 80K per year bought their first home. He was a radiologist and she was a secretary in a city whose population ranges around 60 thousand. The industrial base in this city is mining, tourism, and health. Unwilling to accept neighbors, they also, bought the property next door. Roughly, 400K in debt, the couple financed a full sized basketball court in the empty lot next door. Too make ends meet, they slept on the floor, filled their new home with lawn furniture then decided to punch out, because of debt-to-income ratio. Wage and salary in the county did not sustain their ambitions because of a layoff.
One cannot sell a super sized dream full of lawn furniture and sleeping bags. The couple opted instead for a house full of Rent-A-Center furniture leased week-to-week. Brent mentioned such a practice was common in the area. In addition, sub-divisions collapsed, as income strapped couples deluded by sub-prime mania simply turned in their keys and walked. The good faith and credit of our Republic never entered into the equation.
I met Brent while looking at the one and only wind driven generator in the area. We chatted for about an hour discussing the monumental population shift into ill conceived suburbs sitting on wind blown hills full of grass hoppers. How long will the 2.5 American family put up with millions of flying critters while wind acts on their new home? I observed green pimple power poles strewn across acres of incomplete housing tracts. No forthcoming homes as cricket sound drifted across the prairie. There is a good reason why early pioneers did not build on the crest of a hill. There is a good reason why the Great Depression taught the Republic to save and invest wisely.
The American super sized dream was packaged into estate this or estate that while everyone ate a piece of Apple pie. According to Brent, from the bankers to the brokers to the buyers, everyone snatched a piece without any regard for the future. The buck did not stop anywhere. This is the final symphonic movement for the Me generation or I might add, "I Got Mine" generation.
On the other hand, what happened to copper plumbing in modern homes? Plastic plumbing did not inspire my confidence (eg. 20 or 30-year sustainability). An enormous re-construction bill is looming just beyond the horizon when material failures begin outpacing one's checkbook. Fixtures like the faucet were loose and cracks already developed at molding joints. I cannot imagine the material soundness of the roof?
Yet, the great cash excavation machine hums at capacity because subsidiary businesses on a colossal retail scale continue mining what remains. I was struck dumbfounded to find the California Tract Mall model smack dab in the middle of the prairie. The signature Mom and Pop business model bulldozed for the already imploding California model. I visualized a mining conveyor belt moving millions out of the county, after stripping mining resources, operations cease and desist. County governments will bare the brunt of this storm.
The great prairie land grab is grinding to a halt according to Brent. He mentioned, the city typically lags our national economy by a year, so next year, coastal economic tides will crest on the beaches of the prairie. One observes body language, as if the final call for alcohol rang out in the bar, in the faces of construction workers. They know time is running out.
I sensed a subdued feeling while waking through airports. The frenetic feeling of decades past replaced by quiet reflection. I did not burn up a cash register and traveled on a cash only budget. Yet, I felt like I was watching the final symphonic movement playing itself out on the prairie, while contractual housing credit writes the legacy chapter on the "I Got Mine" generation.
Resuming regular transmissions.
