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Title: Nevada's Economic Misery May Be America's Future
Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/27/nevadas-economic-mi
URL Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/ ... conomic-misery-m_n_661043.html
Published: Jul 28, 2010
Author: NA
Post Date: 2010-07-28 10:28:15 by Nebuchadnezzar
Keywords: None
Views: 26155
Comments: 52
Nevada's Economic Misery May Be America's Future First Posted: 07-27-10 04:20 PM | Updated: 07-28-10 09:53 AM So many homes in Las Vegas have been foreclosed upon that banks rarely bother to hang a "For Sale" sign on the front lawn anymore. Instead, visitors identify bank-owned properties by the brown grass and the 8.5 x 11-inch sheet of paper taped to the front door or the garage. On a cul-de-sac in the once-pleasant neighborhood of Silverado Ranch, Larry Wood is the last remaining resident. Two of the four homes are in foreclosure and a third is a "party rental" only occupied by rowdy tourists on weekends. One of his neighbors made a few bucks before abandoning the home, he says. "They sold all the palm trees and just walked away from it," says Wood, sporting a "Freedom Isn't Free" T-shirt. "It's a great neighborhood. I guess that people weren't financially set up to get through the crash." Wood takes little comfort in being the last resident. "Sometimes it's scary. There's a possibility someone would try to rob me and I wouldn't have any neighbors to help me," he says, recounting a previous attempted intrusion when his then-neighbor called to warn him not to answer the door because there was a group of thugs knocking. Armed and ready, he huddled near the door but the gang gave up and left. Walking away is becoming a habit among law-abiding residents too. It's hard to find a home bought before 2009 that isn't underwater and very few landlords, when running credit checks, look for foreclosures or short-sales on a tenant's record. Otherwise, a manager couldn't fill a building. Nevada has a greater concentration of economic misery than any other state. The state's unemployment rate, which in June edged up to 14.2 percent, has risen faster during the past year than it has anywhere else, and nearly six percent of all homes across the state's desert landscape received a foreclosure filing in the first six months of the year. While the concentration of misery may be greater in Nevada, it was caused by the same unchecked housing bubble and unregulated financial gambling that brought pain to the rest of the country. If present trends go unchecked, Nevada is America's future. The jobless rate would likely be much higher, say residents, if Nevada were not such a transient state. When folks lose their jobs and their homes, they often pack up and move in with relatives. Story continues below Others, though, have roots in the state. Robert Garcia, 58, moved to Vegas more than a decade ago to take a job with what is now MGM as a video producer. Back in Salt Lake City, Utah, he'd met his wife, an anchorwoman, on the set. She went to work for US Airways in Las Vegas. The couple, who have two kids, divorced several years ago and sold their home at a healthy profit, which they split. Garcia put $100,000 into a new home that he bought for $350,000. Making nearly six figures, he said, he had no problem covering the mortgage and the $2,400 in alimony and child support. In 2008, things took a turn for the worse. He has been able to weather the downturn, he says, because he always lived within his means -- no credit card debt, no car payment. He has a "junky car," he says, that his kids are embarrassed to ride in. "It's funny," Garcia adds, pausing. "Just before I was laid off, I was gonna buy a BMW." He pauses for another long moment as his eyes well up. Asked where he is living now, he breaks down instantly, tears pouring down his cheeks, knocking his contacts out. "Actually, I'm looking for a place. I'll be right back," he says, leaving to compose himself. When he returns, he says that he's still in his home, which is more than 50 percent under water, but will be leaving as soon as the bank approves a short sale. He had an offer several months ago, but the buyer, a teacher, backed out at the last minute. She'd been laid off. Garcia has applied for 200 jobs all across the country but, at his age, employers want younger workers, leaving him to scrape by on freelance work. He has nothing left, but one bright spot is that the devastation in Vegas is so profound that landlords tell him they no longer check credit reports for short sales or foreclosures. Garcia's wife, meanwhile, has been laid off by the airline, as fewer tourists fly into town. She's now on welfare, he says, and, as a consequence, half his wages are garnished. (Welfare policy requires such payments to be made through garnishment.) He doesn't mind, he says. His bigger fear is that the only job he'll be able to find will require him to leave Vegas and his children. Meanwhile, the debate in Washington enrages him. It particularly galls him that Republicans say help for the unemployed must be offset with spending cuts elsewhere. Garcia, in fact, volunteers the term "offset," expressing a better grasp of economics than most of the deficit hawks in Washington. "It drives me crazy when they say that. There's nothing to take from! Where are they going to offset it?! What's the phrase? You can't get blood from a turnip," he said. "This is my hometown and I've watched it struggle and go through so many challenges, particularly over the past two years," says Julie Murray, president of Three Square, a food bank in Vegas that distributes food to more than 300 partner programs and schools around town. "The way that this economic downturn has been different from others is that I've never seen the gaming industry be impacted. Our community would suffer when the economy suffered but gaming was always resilient." Three Square delivered 10 million pounds of food in 2008; this year the food bank is on track to distribute twice that amount (some of the increase, Murray said, owes to the fact that Three Square is growing; the nonprofit was founded in 2006). Murray said corporate donations to the food bank have been down during this recession, but individual and foundation giving has remained steady. "We've been able to sustain distribution of food in a recession because of the sheer will and passion of the community," she said. "Things are dire -- we have more children who are struggling with hunger and more seniors and more families and more middle class families who never thought they'd need social services -- however, Las Vegas is rallying." "Nevada was pretty much a growth economy for most of the past two decades," says Steven Horsford, the Nevada State Senate's Minority Leader, a Democrat who represents North Las Vegas. "When the financial crisis hit, it disproportionately affected Las Vegas because of our growth rate." Horsford says the local economy is struggling not because fewer tourists are coming to Vegas, but because the people who do come are spending less money. (A cab driver complains that he doesn't have many fewer customers, just more families haggling over the $60 fare.) Horsford said Vegas needs to switch from relying on casino tourism to green energy and medical tourism. "We were used to being able to help virtually all segments of our population get a job if they wanted a job, have benefits, earn money to put their kids through college -- we called it the Las Vegas dream," he says. "From a leadership standpoint, knowing that two-thirds of all homes are either upside down or are in foreclosure is one of the most humbling realities we are dealing with." The decay in Vegas doesn't stay there: It reverberates throughout the state. "Coming Soon" signs have been pulled down across the city, because nothing is coming soon other than more foreclosures. The Nevada landscape is pockmarked by empty condos and casinos, some of them fully built and sitting there empty, others are shells frozen in time. When analysts talk abstractly about Wall Street sucking capital out of the real economy, these stalled construction projects are the on-the-ground reality. "60% Reduced Prices" promises one empty condo development. The $3.1 billion Fontainebleau Las Vegas construction project sits nearly complete but the lender pulled out and everybody is suing everybody else. The first Ritz-Carlton in the company's history to shut down is in Las Vegas. The city's dance clubs aren't empty, but there's less money circulating. "Saturn," an exotic dancer at Spearmint Rhino, says she and her fellow dancers are making roughly half what they were two years ago. The house she bought for more than $450,000 on an interest-only loan is now worth a third that. She's negotiating a short-sale with the bank. The Dunkin Donuts that opened in Fabienne Chalaye's neighborhood five months ago is already empty. "Dunkin Donuts... It's all empty. Everything is empty," she marvels, while giving a HuffPost reporter a tour of the city. Chalaye, a chauffeur, says her business is down roughly 60 percent over the last two years. It slowed down almost imperceptibly after 2006, then fell off a cliff in 2008. She hasn't made a mortgage payment in 15 months and expects to be booted from her home, along with her husband, her adult daughter and her daughter's boyfriend any day now. She bought the house in 2008 on an interest-only loan for $313,000; it's now worth $117,000 and her interest rate shot up to 12 percent. Both she and Garcia, however, say they're leaning toward voting for Harry Reid to return to the Senate, because they have no faith in his opponent, Sharron Angle. "'I wanna get rid of Social Security,'" Garcia quotes Angle saying. "How stupid is that?" Garcia says a friend of his in the crane business told him he was offloading the hulking useless tools to builders in China because it isn't worth the cost of storing them. "Office Space Available" blares a sign next to a stalled office project. A five-bedroom home with Spanish tile and a game room sits vacant on half an acre of land. "This property is Bank-owned. We reserve the right to prosecute any and all trespassers illegally accessing the property. Thank you for your cooperation." The Nugget Casino in tiny Searchlight (population: 576), about an hour from Vegas, laid off a third of its 85 employees in the past two years to cope with reduced demand for the Nugget's slot machines and chicken fried steaks, says owner Verlie Doing, 86. "We had a great banker when we built this place," says Doing, who opened the Nugget with her husband in 1979. Now, Doing says, she doesn't think Wells Fargo will give her a loan to fix the three air conditioners that recently failed. "I'm not gonna talk to the bank. I'm not even gonna bother to waste my time with 'em." Doing, a friend and supporter of Harry Reid, is optimistic. "It's gradually getting better," she says. "Not noticeably a bunch better -- but it's getting better." Sarcastic references to President Obama's 2009 stimulus bill can be seen throughout the Las Vegas area, from glossy Keno fliers at Vegas hotels to the mysterious sign by the front entrance to the Nugget advertising a "Great opportunity" to "stimulate yourself" and make money. "You won't need a bailout. Call Barry." Reached by phone, Barry Bunnell of Chloride, Ariz. -- a town even smaller than Searchlight -- explains that he's been trying to hire people to sell his Easy Out Fire Protector product, a bottle of fire retardant liquid that's handy for snuffing out small pan fires, especially in RV trailers. Bunnell needs people who can go door-to-door demonstrating the product. He says he received 37 responses to the Searchlight flier, but nobody was interested in sitting down for an Easy Out interview after Bunnell described the job. He suspects they'd rather stay on unemployment benefits and use the Easy Out inquiry as an easy way to prove to the state they're still looking for work. A Searchlight sales rep, however, would have to push five Easy Outs on every man, woman and child in town to crack $20,000 a year, selling the type of product that most fire-conscious RV owners already own. (That the unemployed would rather draw benefits than look for work is a common argument among congressional Republicans, even though there are at least 15 million people looking for three million available jobs.) "You can sell two for $39 and keep $20," says Bunnell of his product, "and people won't do it because it's beneath their dignity."
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#12. To: Capitalist Eric (#8)
Your statement doesn't match historical examples. I'm sorry you don't like the fact that we're in a deflationary cycle. If you dispute this, let me know with some facts. Where do you see hyper-inflation? I don't see it. I see housing collapsing. Will that lead to hyper-inflation of house prices? Talk of hyper-inflation IN THE US is mere speculation.
Being a Democratic shill means you check your humanity at the door.
The "need" for housing has nothing at all to do with whether people will buy them or not. The people who are short-selling and walking away from houses are doing so even though they need housing. Take a look at what I posted yesterday about the percentage of people who own homes. It's slated to go down to 1965 levels. That is deflation in action.
Being a Democratic shill means you check your humanity at the door.
At the moment. However, that's NOT what I asked you. Your exact words were: "No jobs = no inflation." http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=11646&Disp=7#C7 Please answer my question, without the dodging and weaving... A straight answer would be very enlightening. The question to that was: "Then how do you explain Zimbabwe? How 'bout the Weimar Republic?" I'm still waiting...
NO, it is the inevitable result of years of FED policies. Do you contend that a tripling of the monetary reserve in the last three years, will lead deflation? Please cite sources to substantiate this logic...
If people don't have jobs or are working low-wage jobs, they don't have money (or much) to spend. Jobs are the conduit for people to get money. Thus, no jobs, no ability to buy things, that is why prices are falling. Can you not see that is what is happening NOW? Homes in Vegas that sold for $330,000 are now selling for $110,000. That's a 66.67% DECREASE IN VALUE. Deflation is all around us. Can't you see it???????? All the talk about hyper-inflation is mere speculation.
Being a Democratic shill means you check your humanity at the door.
Other than the price of homes, no.
Eric, You are correct, for the past FEW YEARS we've seen an enormous ramp-up in the money supply. Yet, contrary to your hypothesis, this massive ramp-up has not resulted in a corresponding increase in inflation. Thus, your wrong.
Being a Democratic shill means you check your humanity at the door.
VERRRRRRY GOOD............ Now, answer the question, "WHY?" And BTW, you STILL have not answered my question. Are you going to bother to answer the question, or shall you simply concede that you're talking out your backside?
See post #16 for your answer, or re-phrase the questions. I have a question for you CE. How come, after this massive ramp by the FED of the money supply, how do you explain the current deflationary period we're in given guys like you predicted in '08 that we'd be in a massive inflationary period right now?
Being a Democratic shill means you check your humanity at the door.
The ramp up in the "money supply" - actually money stock - is the direct result of a system that was starved for dollars. We are in and shall remain in the deflationery environment as long as the prices of assets held by consumers continue to fall.
Because there is a demand for dollars. Inflation is too many dollars chasing too few goods. If there is a demand for doallrs and not for goods is that inflationary? No.
unconstitutional money supply. Shh don't tell anyone they might get informed.
LOLOL. You of all people would never stand for the actions that would be required to change who controls our money.
"See in my line of work, you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda." --- George W. Bush (Rochester NY, 5-24-2005)
Please. The Congress created the FRB under its powers to a) create agencies and b) regulate the value of money.
Abolish the unconstitutional federal reserve.
Spinner. They only have legitimate power to coin money and regulate the value of those coins. But everyone knows you're not exactly truthful.
"To coin money, regulate the value thereof..." "[V]alue thereof" refers to the noun in the previous clause..."coin" is a verb. The power is to regulate the value of "money". It's not a matter of honesty here. It's a matter of you being stupid and, at the same time, willing to display it.
Like I said you're a liar.
ANd like I said...fuck you asswipe.
That's being polite. He's shameless. The last thread I ran across war on, devolved into pure BS, his spinning to justify the government takeover of (quite literally) EVERYTHING. Talk about shilling for the JBTs!
And like I said. You're a spinner. Got it Spinner. I'll change it back tonight. Bye.
Inflation is too many dollars chasing too few goods. If there is a demand for doallrs and not for goods is that inflationary? No. So your contention is that we're in a deflationary cycle. I see. Perhaps you'd like to explain the following graph, then? BTW, government propaganda is in red, reality is in blue.
I'll answer yours, in due time. There's already a question on the table, you have YET to answer. Give it up, sonny...
There's already a question on the table, you have YET to answer. Give it up, sonny... 1. I've been respectful of you in this discussion. No need to call names. Got it? 2. Due time? You demand I answer yours on your schedual yet take your time getting back to me? 3. Again, I did answer your question. You don't like the answer. Or re-state it.
Being a Democratic shill means you check your humanity at the door.
Yep. Perhaps you'd like to explain the following graph... I know nothing about the source of that graph. So, my "explanation" would be that somebody developed some sort of methodology to examine price movement the validity of which is unestablished.
CE, Copper is the commodity that is used the most in a growing, advanced economy. Let's look at the 5-year chart: Looks like it's price is way down from it's 2008 high. Ditto with oil. Oil, and with it gasoline, is down DRAMATICALLY. Oil is down almost 50% from it's 2008 high. Ditto with gasoline (a tad higher than 50%). Again, your hyper-inflation scenario doesn't pan out with the facts.
Being a Democratic shill means you check your humanity at the door.
Then go to shadowstats.com, and start getting educated. Until you do, discussing economics with you is a waste of my time.
Where? Your point was "no jobs, no inflation." My question is, "how do you explain Weimar Germany or Zimbabwe?" I've been asking this for two days, you have YET to give an answer. Refusing to do so, and then claiming "I did answer your question" may work for the Proles, but I know better. You keep posting all kinds of BS, yet don't answer the ONE question I posed to you... And then you want ME to answer your questions? LOL.
I did. I see no peer review of their methodology. Nor do they even reveal their methodology. They do make a couple of false statements, i.e., claiming that BLS uses "qualtative" substituting of items, e.g. hamburger for steak, that has been debunked so many times, it's insane that anyone would continue to believe it. I do see that well known shill Walter Williams runs the site though. You posted the graph, tho. You may now feel free to defend its accuracy.
The catharisis in both economies was caused by similar dislocative factors, e.g, a war and a lack of investment capital to rebuild basic infrastructure, food, clothing, housing, after the war. The current dislocation in the US was not caused by the same factors.
ROFLOL. Dodge and weave, bubba... dodge and weave. AKA Stone was right about you... you DO spin... LOL.
Wow... sounds like you lifted the quote from a textbook. Now, care to actual the *question,* or are you still dodging and weaving?
1. Zimbabwe is a backwards, third-world shit-fest. You can't compare what has happened in that dictatorship to what could happen in the US. 2. Weimar had to pay off their war reparations. You know that, we don't have that here. Dude, give it up with the Ron Paul "Buy gold" bullshit.
Being a Democratic shill means you check your humanity at the door.
I wasn't alive in the 1920's. That said, reagrdless of what is "sounds" like to you, it "sounds" correct to everyone who has a clue about what occurred. They had an influx of ex soldiers now unemployed, no capital for infrastructure, no means of providing staples and a staggering war debt that they simply cranked up the printing presses to satisfy. BTW, Weimar actually STABILIZED Germany. A common mis-belief is that Weimar was an unmitigated disaster from start to finish. It wasn't. In fact, had Germany not suffered from such a fractious violent and political atmosphere at the end of WWI, they probably would have succeeded earlier. Hell, Hitler's putsch occurred at a time of reasonable stability which was one of the reasons it failed. Now, care to actual the *question,* or are you still dodging and weaving? If you don't like my answers, which, btw, both times you've "said" this were dead balls correct, feel free to provide you own. I've never been fond of the ballet and even less so when it's a dude doing the pirouettes..
Stone's an asswipe with an over developed sense of what it takes to be an asshole. That said, I can come up with my own politically based CPI as well. Walter Williams is a clueless shill that whenever he encounters anyone with a modicum of intelligence he gets bitch slapped. As I stated in my last post, I looked into some of what they claim is the fault with the BLS series they purport to "shadow". They wholly misrepresent BLS's methodology. That makes THEIR series suspect right off the bat. YOU posted the graph. YOU defend it. There has NEVER been an instance of inflation when ASSET PRICES were deflating. EVER. NEVER EVER.
Gold has topped. It will be below $1000 by the end of next year.
Bookmarked for your future embarrassment.
My question is, "how do you explain Weimar Germany or Zimbabwe?" 1. Zimbabwe is a backwards, third-world shit-fest. You can't compare what has happened in that dictatorship to what could happen in the US. 2. Weimar had to pay off their war reparations. You know that, we don't have that here. You refuse to answer my question. A lot of spinning and evading, but what it boils down to is the following translation: You're talking out your ass. Thanks for playing! Bookmarked for your future embarassment. Again, thanks for the laughs. Now that you've made a fool of yourself, it's time to move on... Kicking you any further...? Is just boring.
So, can I presume that you are the expert on "what it takes to be an asshole?" That's not a badge of honor, war... It says you're an asshole. What a deal. LOL.
Nope. I'm 52. I know a meteor when I see one. I know a pretty woman when I see one. I know a fat bastard when I see one. I am none of them. Your fallacy is called ignoratio elenchi by the way.
I'm never embarrassed when I'm wrong. But in this case, I am not going to be.
hen how do you explain Zimbabwe? How 'bout the Weimar Republic?
#13. To: Wood_Chopper (#9)
True, but there won't always be the ability to pay for it.
#14. To: Nebuchadnezzar (#12)
I'm sorry you don't like the fact that we're in a deflationary cycle.
#15. To: Nebuchadnezzar (#12)
Talk of hyper-inflation IN THE US is mere speculation.
#16. To: Capitalist Eric (#14)
Please answer my question, without the dodging and weaving... A straight answer would be very enlightening. The question to that was: "Then how do you explain Zimbabwe? How 'bout the Weimar Republic?"
#17. To: Nebuchadnezzar (#16)
Deflation is all around us. Can't you see it????????
#18. To: Capitalist Eric (#15)
#19. To: Nebuchadnezzar (#18)
You are correct, for the past FEW YEARS we've seen an enormous ramp-up in the money supply.
#20. To: Capitalist Eric (#19)
#21. To: Capitalist Eric (#15)
Do you contend that a tripling of the monetary reserve in the last three years, will lead deflation?
#22. To: Capitalist Eric, Nebuchadnezzar (#19)
Now, answer the question, "WHY?"
#23. To: war (#21)
#24. To: A K A Stone (#23)
unconstitutional money supply. Shh don't tell anyone they might get informed
#25. To: A K A Stone (#23)
...unconstitutional money supply.
#26. To: mininggold (#24)
#27. To: war (#25)
#28. To: A K A Stone (#27)
(Edited)
They only have legitimate power to coin money and regulate the value of those coins.
#29. To: war (#28)
#30. To: A K A Stone (#29)
#31. To: A K A Stone (#27)
(Edited)
But everyone knows you're not exactly truthful.
#32. To: Spinner (#30)
ANd like I said...fuck you asswipe.
#33. To: Spinner (#22)
Because there is a demand for dollars.
#34. To: Nebuchadnezzar (#20)
I have a question for you CE. How come, after this massive ramp by the FED of the money supply, how do you explain the current deflationary period we're in given guys like you predicted in '08 that we'd be in a massive inflationary period right now?
#35. To: Capitalist Eric (#34)
I'll answer yours, in due time.
#36. To: Capitalist Eric (#33)
(Edited)
So your contention is that we're in a deflationary cycle.
#37. To: Capitalist Eric (#33)
#38. To: Spinner (#36)
I know nothing about the source of that graph.
#39. To: Nebuchadnezzar (#35)
3. Again, I did answer your question.
#40. To: Capitalist Eric (#38)
(Edited)
Then go to shadowstats.com...
#41. To: Capitalist Eric (#39)
...how do you explain Weimar Germany or Zimbabwe
#42. To: war (#40)
I see no peer review of their methodology.
#43. To: war (#41)
The catharisis in both economies was caused by similar dislocative factors, e.g, a war and a lack of investment capital to rebuild basic infrastructure, food, clothing, housing, after the war.
#44. To: Capitalist Eric (#39)
My question is, "how do you explain Weimar Germany or Zimbabwe?"
#45. To: Capitalist Eric (#43)
(Edited)
Wow... sounds like you lifted the quote from a textbook.
#46. To: Capitalist Eric (#42)
(Edited)
AKA Stone was right about you... you DO spin...
#47. To: Nebuchadnezzar (#44)
Dude, give it up with the Ron Paul "Buy gold" bullshit.
#48. To: war, capitalist eric (#47)
Gold has topped. It will be below $1000 by the end of next year.
#49. To: Nebuchadnezzar, capitalist eric (#44)
To: Capitalist Eric
Dude, give it up with the Ron Paul "Buy gold" bullshit.
#50. To: war, A K A Stone (#46)
Stone's an asswipe with an over developed sense of what it takes to be an asshole.
#51. To: Capitalist Eric (#50)
(Edited)
#52. To: Capitalist Eric (#48)
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