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HousingWatcher
2011 Aug 18, 3:17am
In my area, the luxury retailers are doing well. The Mercedes dealership? They just moved into a new building that is larger than their old location. The used car dealerships? A lot of them are gone... their storefronts still vacant.
HousingWatcher
2011 Aug 18, 12:55pm
I also should have added that corporations like a weak economy since it drives their competitors out of business. If your Goldman Sachs, Bed Bath & Beyond, or Barnes & Noble, then this recession has helped you a lot since all 3 of these companies lost their major competitors.
Two of those companies are on the verge of bankruptcy.
Argument is still stupid
FortWayne
2012 Jan 2, 1:23am
1) Welfare and bad economy is Democrats haven. Where would they be if no one needed them? Democrats thrive in poverty.
4) Tot said it best. If we act like Soviet union with entitlements and spending we'll achieve the same result.
5) Nation should not and cannot be ran by a ponzi scheme in housing. The era of free money for having a pulse is over, the game is up.
6) It is a conscious choice to go into debt this way you know. Is anyone holding a gun to their head telling them to go into massive debt to graduate from the party school of their choice? Not everyone is equal, not everyone is special, and not every college is for everyone.
Some should probably start with a community college, it's still $25/unit, a homeless man can afford that without a credit card.
TMAC54
2012 Jan 2, 3:53am
HousingWatcher says
5. Hosuing: Until the housing market improves, the oerall economy will not. The two are tied together. Currently, all govt. eforts to stimulate the housing market have failed.
They're not tied together any more than any other aspect of the economy. A depressed housing market could mean lower housing costs, which would mean more discretionary income.
Housing is where the buck STARTS for the majority of industry.
The equity we once enjoyed from the appreciation of real property, provided profit for BANKS (dynamically), Home Improvement entities, the Tourism trade, Automotive, Marine & Aviation industries, Gaming, Logistics including Railways, Mining of Gold & Diamonds etc., Sports & Leisure Infrastructure, Software & Computer Services, even pertaining to establishing small Business to Business (B2B).
The introduction of the info age dispersed more cash than ALL other inventions combined. The more you make the more we spent on housing. The maturation of I.T. has reduced investments and cash flow.
Housing is the ONLY reason for our snails paced global economic REAPPRAISAL.
Gubmint has an honorable obligation to hire the handicapped. We demand they protect us from ourselves, causing stagnation.
Maybe the terrorists had it right ?
IMO the economy will eventually ramp back up, however, it will not be the economy we Americans have known and been blessed by for years and years. Due to technology and globalization there is much less work out there than there was 50 y.a. For a large portion of our population full-time work at one company for the long term is definitely a thing of the past. Two or more jobs will be the norm, although this situation won't even promise "full-time" work. For me, this is why it's important for healthcare to be tied to the person, rather than to some employer. It seems that this new economic paradigm almost demands it.
Like every other major work/agricultural/life shift that humanity has experienced, this scenario is not all bad. It now may be the time for the new paradigm that we have been working so hard to achieve for years; working less because we can, due to depending on technology more and therefore having more leisure time for education, charitable activities, or whatever it is you consider that makes life worth living.
Also, I would really like to see humans expand their explorations of the solar system. Pioneering is generally a good way of utilizing human capital and as I see it we need to invest more into space exploration. I would rather explore space than be cannon fodder any day.
elliemae
2012 Jan 8, 6:17am
The only thing that isn't unfounded blather on there are the last two points.
you forgot to include your post.
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Despite all the "efforts" to improve the economy, I strongly beleive it will not anytime in the near future for several reasons:
1. Republicans don't want to do anything that will improve the economy since that will help Obama get re-elected. If he is re-elected, they will refuse to do anything that coudl remotely improve it during his 2nd term.
2. Jobs are being outsourced at an alarming rate and they are NEVER coming back.
3. Immigration: Each month, more people immigrate and come to the U.S on work visas than the number of new jobs that are created monthly. So even if we see an increase of jobs, when accounting for population growth, we actually lost jobs.
3. Corporations want the economy to stay weak since it ensures they have a large pool of cheap labor. If the economy improves, labor costs increase.
4. Austerity: We are now starting to see spending get cut singificantly and this will obvivously kill jobs... not just public sector jobs, but private sector ones too.
5. Hosuing: Until the housing market improves, the oerall economy will not. The two are tied together. Currently, all govt. eforts to stimulate the housing market have failed.
6. The next generation of workers are graduating from college with unsustainable amounts of student debt that will strangle them for decades to come.
#housing