Thursday, October 10, 2013

So Who is Better Off Now?





As this long slow decline continues I know many people get discouraged. Changes that come so slowly almost don't feel like changes at all. It doesn't help of course that the government cartel in general tries to hide the facts or paint over things turning every bit of bad news into good somehow.

A while back we had a unemployment report that really wasn't very good during a couple of days when the market was down. For about 30 minutes after the report came out I noted that the market had in fact reversed itself temporarily and in that short span of time three news articles appeared on how the jobs data had reversed losses.

Yet after four years of knowing we are in a serious collapse situation it still amazes me that so many people cannot see it.

So I ask myself who is better off now than they were five or six years ago? I can only come up with a few far removed people that may or may not fit and each one of them has some form of attachment to the government either directly or at most once removed. I have known a few individuals who switched jobs or managed to find new ones after being laid off but at best they could be called lateral shifts only, no great salary increases.

Of all the cities and towns within the general region of the Small-Hold only one isn't constantly complaining about revenue issues and reporting cut backs each year. The only one growing is the State university town and truth be told they are actually growing at a good rate. Yet it is easy to see why it is growing with again that direct feeding tube to Federal money.

Construction is still limited around here. I have seen a bit going on here and there but in every case it is more filling in the open spots than busting new ground. A lot here that was open, a space there and mostly limited to duplexes or low end new homes. Not one new subdivision or privately constructed road longer than 100 feet or so.

I now see a fleet of lawn care trucks on the road where I used to see a fleet of surveyors.

Yet every school district is still floating a tax increase each year to pay for a new school.

Have the conditions in Greece improved? Egypt? Anywhere overall? I know we hear about recoveries and even see some numbers floated showing renewed consumer confidence for a month or industrial orders up some quarter but I never see any hard news about conditions improving anywhere.

The nearest town South of us just went goo goo over a new building being sold  that brought in 25 whole jobs. While this same month another plant closed and laid off over 500 people.

Timing is everything. Almost all the doomsayer predictions have come to pass but where we thought it would take months it has taken years.

Follow the money my friends. If you happen to know an area or a person that appears to be doing well right now my bet would be that money trail leads right back to the government and just more debt.

And that cannot last.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!




13 comments:

  1. A lot of the new business in the city near us is a result of generous tax incentives and deals made with the government and paid for by the old businesses that get over taxed and go out of business. It looks good on the news as they don't tell the whole story.

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    1. SF - Ya know out of everyone and all the blogs/comments I see about the net the only place I ever hear of new construction these days in on the East coast from Maryland down to South Carolina. Oh a bit in Texas I guess and Washington but always from your neck of the woods.

      Interesting.

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  2. I have noticed if you use Google Earth and look at rural areas you will find roads to nowhere. We have that here in MN. farm land sold for big money, roads built but the bubble popped. I have family here at home looking for work, they apply and no calls. But its getting better. Smoke and mirrors my friend, smoke and mirrors.
    So many people just go with the flow... How do I know?? A recent poll blamed the GOP for the shut down. The Liberals screwed the country and they have told folks over and over its the fault of the GOP.

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    1. Rob - Yes we have a few of those as well. They were started but still have not been able to get back into production.

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  3. I am being worn to the bone and can only see being further worn to the bone in the future. Granted I don't make the best decisions but you've got to be much smarter than the average bear to even stay lateral right now. Smarter than the average bear and lower are getting flushed. Flushed like the turds we've been viewed as for 100 years.

    Relationships are the only remaining private enterprise. Cherish them like bricks of gold.

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    1. Anon- And if you are a flyover turd you are really getting screwed.

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  4. The economy here is still in terrible condition. The woods are full of cabins abandoned to the banks in 2008 and now fallen into ruin. No young adults because they have to leave to find work. It is still hard times here.

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    1. Harry - Interesting about the cabins. Most of the abandoned places out here have been resold I think but at record low prices.

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  5. PP- did you read the table for ETB usage at SBPDL?? Notice the percentage for Boone Co? Figures are from 2009 so I would imagine they are higher now. Looks like that area has the highest percentage of Blacks on benefits than any other city.

    Here's hoping they head to KC when the SHTF! Yikes!

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    1. Anon - I read that chart somewhere yesterday right before it was posted on SBPDL. Columbia Housing Authority has long been attempting to move the section 8 folks in from St. Louis and Chicago it appears they have been successful.

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  6. When we first moved in to our current area, it was not as populated as it was. However in the last 6 years it has exploded. Now we hear of a 5,000 home subdivision going in about 4 miles from us.
    This county did not plan for such growth. There is only 1 main road in and out of our town, and that goes all the way out to the island. Then there is the issue of overcrowding in the schools... But with all this sudden growth...there is no business moving in. And if it does, it is nothing profitble then in a few months, those that did move in, go out of business. IF there is a major hurricane or SHTF, with just one main highway, people east of our location are screwed.

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    1. JuGM - I am just amazed at all the housing growth I hear about out your way. It seems all of you on the East coast are seeing growth while we see zip out here.

      And yep the lack of planning is going to hurt.

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  7. There is rumor of two large housing developments on the West side of the Metro, east of us thank god. They are already talking of adding on to the schools nearby. We have homes that are still sitting empty from foreclosure and they want to build more?? I just don't get it.

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