Here is one way to clear out the excess housing supply. Across America, recession-fueled foreclosures and plummeting home values have left countless properties abandoned and vulnerable to looting. As Scott Pelley reports, the problem has gotten so bad in Cleveland, Ohio, that county officials have demolished more than 1,000 homes this year – and plan to demolish 20,000 more – rather than let the blight spread and render nearby homes worthless. Here is the direct link.
Follow
____________________________
;
Ahhh..the good-old-days of the mid-oh-oh’s, when perfectly good houses were bought up for ungodly sums, swinging cranes jawing them apart, crushing them to pieces in the basements and filling truck after truck hauling the remains to the everflowing landfills…then the survey crews came, the fences when up, the remaining trees came down, the mega-basements were dug and more trucks hauled the clay away…then the forms went in, the concrete was poured, the lumber trucks came and delivered the wood..and the house walls went up, the brick and stone went up, the insides were installed….yada yada yada….home after home after home went up block by block it seemed in our towns, the streets packed with workers pickups lined up all over the place. 55-hour weeks, plenty of overtime for the workers so guess what? They bought new pickups! Times were GREAT!
But now look at it all. Foreclosures public and private, short sales, forced sales, sheriff sales. Now we have this horrible slowdown that is festering and spreading all over the country and countries. About the only stores truly busy are the food stores and a lot of worried looks on mothers and fathers faces when they see the prices and the totals on their tickets. I’d say it looks like its more like 5-10% doing wonderful, about 20% trying to look wonderful (watch those credit card bills come Jan-Feb) and the REST not doing too well at all and their numbers are growing.
Pay-go. My idea of a mandatory tattoo on all qualified U.S. consumers, if there are any left in the future. I’m still thinking 2023 will be the new time when the economy here in the States begin to look any better. Its the Boomers. They are here at retirements doorstep without a clue to how broke they are going to make America. And the whole western world too.