Our Nation

Foreclosure rates in California still indicative of broken economy

2011-11-08T12:23:00.000-08:00

We posted this article that included an infographic on Walmart and a graph on the manufacturing sector in California. This post will describe another issue that is a result of the massive job loss. Again, we'll look at the Californian state since it's the biggest.

With a demand for cheaper goods there are a number of sectors that are consistently losing jobs to cheaper off-shore manufacturers. India and most notably China are consuming American jobs. Now, obviously globalization is not the only issue at hand. The collapse of the housing market is an indicator there are more problems than just Mr. Chan stealing your job.

Firstly, China has our jobs because we let them and we demand cheap goods. the pressure to create the cheapest good (competitive market place) means we can't afford the most expensive labor which is American. That means you get a cheap crib and Chan makes it, not Smith. Simple economics.

The other problem of course is the collapsed housing market which is a result of a) lost jobs, b) financial meltdown as a result of greedy wall street execs.

Look at the foreclosure rates in the past few years.

All over the place, but most notable some huge consistent increases month over month. Is there any end in sight? When you think you're coming out of the abyss you can view another knock in improvement. So what's the solution?

Foreclosures are the last straw for many. They can't save the home, the bank takes it back.

Jobs is the obvious answer.

After jobs, some breathing room for those with predatory rates.

After that, jobs.

Then add some jobs.

Then stop wasting money on military and govt waste.

Then jobs.

Which of course means something has to change, because we CANNOT keep doing things the way we used to. That goes for the finance system AND our buying behavior.

Again, tons of thanks to San Diego Bankruptcy Attorney C Chen for letting us use their stats.

Walmart Infographic and California Manufacturing

2011-10-31T14:12:00.000-07:00

Check out this infographic of Walmart.
Via: Home Loans.

Before anybody jumps on the bandwagon of 'Walmart sucks' or 'Walmart is evil' make note, 1/3 shop there, 90% live within 15 minutes of one.

Why is WalMart so successful and why don't we care about the extent of their exploitation? Because quite simply the average American thinks about himself alone. Maybe his family. Apart from that nobody else. Sure, we hear about the macro problems with scarce resources, unfair treatment of employees, wage disparity, but who cares right?

At the end of the day WalMart knows you only care about one thing as a consumer : price.

Low prices, and you don't care where they come from. Again, not everyone thinks like this, but most Americans are short term thinkers that don't consider consequences of their buying power.

Don't believe me? Take a look at this graph on the manufacturing sector in California (let's assume all others states are very similar):

The downward trend is the total wages of the manufacturing sector. Either everyone is still employed and getting significantly less pay, or there are 25%+ less jobs over 10 years and lower wages. Opt for the latter.

THe result of American demand for cheap consumer goods, mostly from China, causes a huge problem, and that's AMERICAN JOBS. Don't like it? Prepare to pay more. YOu can't have cheap and a job.....

Thanks to San Diego Bankruptcy Lawyers for letting us use their stats. Stats were derived from RAND California.

A few posts on California

2011-10-31T14:11:00.000-07:00

How bad is the economy in the nation's largest state? I'm gonna do a couple of posts about some stats I came across. they'll have to do with mostly the housing market (but I can get a number of different indicators.) Stay tuned.

Discuss Economics will help us with the stats.

Our Nation on 99% v 1%

2011-10-18T15:09:00.000-07:00

1% of the wealthiest Americans are continually getting wealthier.

Problem?

I dunno, sure they stole but really what did they do illegal? They merely know how to navigate a system that everyone agreed to (years of decentralization). So in effect everyone is to blame. At the end of the day the choice to make a lot of money, or the choice to borrow against your home when you do'nt have any money to begin with, well that's yours to make.

Maybe that's a very simple perspective of things, but 'demanding' wealthy Americans, the people with ALL the power, do something that involves giving money away, well that's never every going to happen.

Better off to mobilize and actually upset th eprocess. Let's see if a grassroots movement can elect officials, their own, who represent their ideals. Let's see if the people can vote rather than let lobbyist skew results. It's possible something will change in this country for the better, but if we're all after the American dream you can hardly blame those who made it.

Double Dip Recession

2011-09-18T15:09:00.000-07:00

Maybe not double dip, but there's certainly another period of downturn in our economy.

The problems that have lead to this point have to do with issues of wealth distribution. I don't believe anything illegal is going on at wall Street btw. I would rather say that Wall Street is inherently greedy, and they're inherently good at making money. Two and two together and you have a system that rewards short term gains. That system was one predicated by politicians on both spectrums over the periods since Reagan.

We permitted this by electing these officials. If you don't vote then shut up. If you do vote vote for change. But when I see everyone getting upset about losing their money and this and that, steal from the rich, I say, well you want to be the 1%. Maybe we need to adjust the way we look at things ourselves. The American dream can't lead to everyone getting rich, maybe we're after the wrong things. Personal choices need to adjust.

Sure, fine, increase regulations on some industries. Evidently we can't trust private enterprise to pass along wealth and act for anybody's best interests except their own. But is giving government that cash better? Doubt it.

Rant over.

Happy 4th - 235 Yeas of Independence

2011-07-04T10:07:00.001-07:00

And we still fight for our freedoms every day. Blessings on you all!

We got our man

2011-05-02T15:12:00.000-07:00

I wouldn't say 'man', but the hunt for fugitive Bin Laden is done almost 10 years to the day he orchestrated the greatest terrorist attack on US soil.

Whether you're an Obama fan or not, for a moment on that memorable Sunday evening everyone was united.

It was like we transported ourselves back into time.

We used to ask, 'where were you that day'. Now we have two days to remember.

But the question is, "now what?"

So what, we 'won'. The students by the White House got to party a bit chanting "USA"......

But what do we do now?

Does the war on terror end? No.

Do we win a prize for killing the most wanted man in our history? Not really.

Surely, culture has changed, and perhaps the morale of the country as a whole has improved.

BUt at the end of the day what is actually making us better?

We can get easily distracted with things that don' tmatter. Sure, let's mark this day as an occasion to remember. But hopefully we can trace back in the future to this time. There, I hope to read in the history books that America turned the corner and made herself a better nation. the catalyst was victory, but the response wasn't revel, but rather, fortitude.

Shout outs to the special ops troops. Shout out to ALL our troops.

Remind me again

2011-03-24T15:14:00.000-07:00

Why are we in Libya? Is this a new dawn of global responsibility? Or it just about oil yet again?

Top 10 politcal lessons of 2011

2011-01-27T10:27:00.000-08:00

http://www.wnyc.org/blogs/its-free-blog/2011/jan/16/top-10-political-lessons-2011/

Glenn Beck Proof?

2011-01-22T10:23:00.000-08:00

Of course you can't back up with any great deal of fact that Glenn Beck's political tirades lead to violence.

His works are certainly violent, but if he's going to play the evidence game then sadly we'll probably never be able to pinpoint a connection between words and someone's physically violent response.

There's certainly room for strong political rhetoric, even perhaps vehement opposition. But once we are faced with odious remarks about opponents we've crossed a line.

Sure, we're free to spout what we want, but educated folks will know that there's a certain form of rhetoric that's far more capable of inciting helpful change compared to one laced with hate.

But heck, Beck only provides what the network (the people) demand so spout away I guess.

And perhaps an economist somewhere will make some weird connection between words and violence.

Discourse

2011-01-17T10:21:00.000-08:00

Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength To Love, 1963.

In 50 years our political discourse has run amok. The 'two party' system we cherish has been fragmented to the point of no repair. What now?

Maybe a step back to remember where we came from will refresh our insight and improve our future....

Spare half a square

2009-03-11T15:02:00.000-07:00

As all of you (actually by now, the whole world) know, Sheryl Crow wants us all to start using one square of toilet paper per "session". Well, take heart, Sheryl! Not only do I limit myself to ONE square of TP, sometimes I even limit myself to half a sheet! (well, sometimes 3/4 of a sheet, but never more). And usually, if it's 2-ply, I customarily seperate the ply's and use accordingly. Yes, thanks to me, the world is a greener, better place (I'm rather proud of that, actually).

On this day

2008-12-24T15:01:00.000-08:00

Events:
1968 - Apollo Program: The crew of Apollo 8 enter into orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so. They performed 10 lunar orbits and broadcast live TV pictures that became the famous Christmas Eve Broadcast, one of the most watched programs in history.
1914 - World War I: The "Christmas truce" begins.
1777 - Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, was discovered by James Cook.

Birthdays:
0 - Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
1923 - George Patton IV, American general (d. 2004).

1 death:
1992 - Bobby LaKind, American musician and singer (The Doobie Brothers) (b. 1945)

Dilbert

2008-05-08T15:01:00.000-07:00