Is America Shutting down?

Random Ramblings
1

I was just wondering if any of you have traveled much during the recession to see the effects on businesses outside your area.
We just got back from an 2200+ mile drive this weekend. It was really eye opening to see the number of businesses closed down along our route. There were so many gas stations closed that we had to make sure we didn’t try to strech our travel legs too far because of the distance between open stations. We saw one huge commercial building closed that looked about the size of a large home improvement store on one side and a big grocery store on the other. Numerous other commercial buildings sat vacant too. We did notice, however, that apparently Hampton Inn is expanding quite a bit. We saw at least five of them under construction along the way.
I still think we’re headed toward a Wal-Mart economy. We’ve already seen stories of people who were well off shopping at thrift stores for clothes and frequenting Wal-Mart instead of the mall.

And along the lines of Mike’s statements about deadbeats breeding at an alarming rate… I found out tonight one of our tenant’s daughter is about to have a baby. This is a perfectly healthy (except for being fat) girl who graduated HS two years ago and was supposed to move out. Her usual place is sleeping on the couch until mid afternoon. She did finally get a job at DQ, but it didn’t last long because she got let go for not being able to figure out how to make a milkshake (no I’m not joking or exaggerating). But she’s about to reproduce and get as many entitlements as she can. Our broke country gets to pay for yet another person to sit around and do nothing…

2

Justin,

The things you are seeing are everywhere. Commercial real estate is the next bubble to pop (or should I say has already popped). What people don’t realize is that while some “investors” were getting 100% LTV loans for SFR’s other investors were getting 100% LTV loans on commercial property. That coupled with the fact that the economy is tanking is wiping out the commercial real estate market. Within one mile of my home there are two brand new commercial developments. One of them is warehouse space with enough space for eight large companies with a small storefront for each. The building has been complete for over a year and they have ONE tenant. ONE. It is a small flooring company. There is no way that tenant can be generating enough income for the owner of that building to not be losing money every month. The other commercial building is a small strip mall in front of a movie theatre. They are having trouble filling all of the spaces, and one of the original tenants has already gone out of business (it was a hair salon). It is very sad because these are not national chains that are going out of business. These are local business owners that are putting their heart and soul into these places and then losing everything when they don’t survive.

What I have noticed a boom in is construction on high end LARGE (over 200 units) apartment complexes. They are popping up all over the place here in North Texas. I guess all of the people that have lost their homes need somewhere to live???

3

I’m seeing the same thing where I live, in SE Wisconsin. I live in a city of just under 15,000 people and our downtown (old style small town heart of city) currently has more vacant storefronts than occupied ones. I think the only thing keeping the owners of the buildings afloat is the fact that the buildings have apartments over the storefronts. And yet, companies are still building little strip malls all over the area, and maybe get one or two tenants and rest of the storefronts sit vacant! Why build more empty storefronts!

The higher income areas in SE WI are still rapidly being developed, attracting successful business tenants AND sustaining the growth!

As for deadbeats, I’m amazed at the number of responses I get when I post my available properties asking if I take rental assistance, doesn’t anybody pay their own bills anymore? I’ve worked my butt off to get where I am now, and the only help I’ve ever gotten was from close relatives here and there, otherwise I just buckled down and found a way to make it work! In Milwaukee, the waiting list for rental assistance is currently closed until 2010 because they’ve got too many people!

4

My area (northern Indiana) is completley dead. I hear Kokomo, Indiana (my town) was ranked like the 3rd fastest dying city in the country. Since Delphi (GM) has been having trouble and laying people off, ide say 1/3 of all the stores in the malls are vacant, and theres SO MANY empty houses its unbelievable. I woul deffinetly say my area is “shutting down.” lol.

Thats why im moving to Texas.

5

When you have an attack on capitalism and “profit” has been formed into an obsene word;that’s what you get.Why would any major corp want to put theirself in the crosshairs?Its sad,we are so much better than this.

Obama said he will “fundamentally rebuild america”.You gotta tear it down before you can “Rebuild"it.I talk to several business owners everyday that say they just hope to survive until obama is out.The drive to” be all you can be" has been targeted and it’s a shame.

6

Uuuummmm Bama the current President has only been in office for a little over 7 months. I find it very hard to believe that you honestly think the recession can be blamed on him. In fact many economists are saying the economy is improving at this point and the recession may soon be over.

The current issues we are facing can be blamed on the credit crunch, $4.00+ gallons of gas, etc… but please stop trying to blame the President for the situation we are currently in. Take a good hard look at Wall Street and you may have a leg to stand on, but blaming a President that has only been in office for seven months is a BIG stretch.

7

Ummmm christopher,

Then let’s blame bush(since obama done the same stuff).And wall street and washington politicians are a world apart :rolleyes

It was recorded as then "senator elect"obama his pointing out of bush ramming bills thru that nobody reads is a big problem.I think this was in 04.It’s on foxnation.com if your computer does’nt blow up on you tryin to get to that evil site. :rolleyes

So I guess your ok without a profit??Right?

8

Bama,

Please show me where the current administration is anti-profit? This I would love to see.

9

Christopher,
If you can’t hear anti-profit in any of obama’s rants,I guess I don’t know what to tell you.This guy was a community aggitator aka organizer,and it’s really shinning through.I don’t think his freefalling support numbers lie.

Explain to me how raising taxes/creating new ones, creates jobs.Or how it motivates a business to expand.Just a guess here,do you own your business or are you employed??

10

Anybody who thinks “spreading the wealth around is good for everybody.” Is obviously anti-profit. Hes targeting those who ARE profiting, and giving to those who arent.

Anybody who wants CapnTrade and admits costs WILL be increased for companies, therfor, being passed on to the consumer, is anti profit.

Anybody who targets the rich (thats what he says, only the rich, but EVERYBODYS going to pay) and increases their taxes is anti profit in my book.

My opinion is, the major, if not only, social responsibilty a business has, is to deliver their money to stockholders. Obama feels business’s should babysit their workers, making sure they have health care, hot milk, and fresh baked cookies, at all times.

All Obama and his little buddies care about is making rich people seem like villians, to pass their agenda(socialism).

In terms of the recession ending, come on… you dont believe that do you Chris? Were still losing jobs at an alarming rate. House prices DID raise a little for the first time in a while, but big deal. Our government is creating a artificial wall, thats why things havent went to hell yet. When that artificial wall breaks, I cant wait to see what the liberals blame it on now.

Also, Obama said the stimulus package was success. IF it did work, then… this is obamas economy now. No more blaming Bush, since Obama said it worked.

11
The current issues we are facing can be blamed on the credit crunch, $4.00+ gallons of gas, etc... but please stop trying to blame the President for the situation we are currently in. Take a good hard look at Wall Street and you may have a leg to stand on, but blaming a President that has only been in office for seven months is a BIG stretch.

Christopher - I agree with you 100% on this issue. President Obama is not to blame for the latest recession. The blame for that rests on America and Americans living FAR beyond their means for the past few decades. What I do blame Obama for is the rapid move to socialism and his attempt to socialize healthcare and institute cap and trade. I also blame him for taking over the auto industry, AIG, allowing Freddie and Fannie to survive, allowing the “too big to fail” Wall Street Firms to survive, and spending money like it’s going out of style.

Mike

12

I don’t blame the reccession on obama,it was already in cycle before the election.I do blame the attack on business on him,therefore yes he is partly responsible for “america shutting down”.I’m partly with you propmanager on alot did live beyond their means also.But lets not forget the oversite committee who were pounded by dems when they exposed fannie/freddie was headed for disaster.Also that our now president had a big hand in this as he trained acorn in "pushing"banks to loan to unqualified people. :shocked

So,yes I blame him as he should be for being at the root of the housing crisis which started this spiral…PERIOD.And would someone explain how raising taxes,shoving govt healthcare down our throats helps promote business to want to expand???

13

“I don’t blame the reccession on obama,it was already in cycle before the election”

For this to be true, you have to OVERLOOK the fact that the Dem’s CONTROLLED CONGRESS and the CHECK WRITING since 2006… you have to OVERLOOK that TARP, Stimulus, Omnibus, etc. were ALL Dem programs… only ONE, TARP, garnered a 1/3 vote of Rep’s, and the Dem’s didn’t need ANY Rep votes… The Rep’s who did vote for it, WERE PAID OFF in goodies for their states, and IMHO, are part of the batch that should be booted in 2010…

I mean, stop and think about it, Obama and the Dem’s have spent MORE than ALL OTHER PRESIDENT’S, including Bush… COMBINED! COMPLETELY IRRESPONSBLE…

Obama is now saying that “stimulus” has done it’s job, even though only approximately 7-10% has actually gone out… if it’s “done it’s job”, then GIVE THE REST BACK!

But you know that won’t happen… That is WHY Cap and Trade and nationalized healthcare are so DANGEROUS… they are TAXES, NOT specifcally put into an account assigned to them, but an EVER-INCREASING OPEN-ENDED TAX…

“The blame for that rests on America and Americans living FAR beyond their means for the past few decades.”

While I agree with this, I also hold the CONGRESS MORE responsibile for living beyond their means to a tune of over $11 TRILLION dollars… AND IT’S NOT EVEN THEIR MONEY THEY ARE MISSPENDING!!!

14

Take a look at what all this spending and debt is doing …

Weak Treasury Auctions Raise Worries About US Debt Burden

http://www.cnbc.com/id/32201716

From the article…

[i][b]“It was just a horrendous result,” said William O’Donnell, head of U.S. Treasury strategy at RBS Securities in Greenwich, Connecticut.

“It was the weakest bid-to-cover since September 2008, and by my numbers it was the biggest tail since February 1993. It was just a very, very weak result.”

The tail indicates that dealers drove an unexpectedly hard bargain to raise yields, and lower prices, to buy the bonds. Ultimately, this could raise interest rates throughout the economy at a faster rate than might be appropriate given the lingering effects of the worst recession in decades.

“If rates unwind higher and too quickly — driven not by the Fed but by the old bond vigilantes — that will be the house of pain for all risk markets,” said George Goncalves, head of fixed income rates strategy with Cantor Fitzgerald in New York."

“Treasury auctions have come under particularly close scrutiny since investors began to question the longevity of the United States’ prized AAA credit rating back in May.”
[/b][/i]