Neil Young posted this song on You Tube recently. Notice his I-Pod! He takes a bite out of it at the end. It's all about the Big Bust (and I'm not talking Hooters).
The economic situation right now seems surreal -- something we studied in U.S. History, but never expected to experience in our lifetime. I guess it's human nature to think that the bad crap will always happen to someone else. We're acutely aware of the current economic crisis here in Phoenix. It's everywhere we look. Small shops and big chains going out of business, developers going bankrupt, foreclosure signs, high unemployment, long lines at job fairs to get in the door, etc . . .
Real estate is especially bad. People are stuck. The odds against selling or renting a house are huge, so you stay put and watch your equity and home values plunge. Developments and developers all over the valley are bust. Fulton Homes, one of the biggest commercial and residential developers in this area, just declared bankruptcy.
On our walk to the park on Friday, I snapped a few photos on the way. Here's a new (now bust) development just south and east of our neighborhood. It's a scary repetition of what we're seeing all over the Phoenix area -- a sign of the times.
The homes originally started out two years ago advertised in the low 800's. Then they changed the sign to low 700's. Then all the way down to low 500's. The development was originally named Charlevoix, then changed to Montage.
Construction started on three homes (I hope models, because otherwise, some poor souls lost their down payments) and progressed to the stage where windows were in and roof tiles were ready for installation. The exterior insulation then turned yellow and everyone started to notice work had stopped. Then chain link fences went up around all three homes. That's a foreclosure sign -- the bank trying to protect its assets. Now the chain link is down and they're stripping the homes. All the windows have been ripped out. (Look below.)
We're not sure if the bank is tearing them down, or scavengers are having at it. But the house below is being stripped back to the studs.
Anyway, that's a little edition of the Hard Times News from our area! I think a lot of us will need to learn a new vocabulary word before this is all over!
re⋅sil⋅ience -- noun
1. the power or ability to return to the original form, position, etc., after being bent, compressed, or stretched; elasticity.
2. ability to recover readily from illness, depression, adversity, or the like; buoyancy
As Neil Young says -- Keep on bloggin' till the power goes out. Your battery's dead, twist and shout!
