New York Renovator

I don’t know what it is with me, lol. I’ve been on a “political and economic” rag for a while. Honestly, the economy STINKS, people! Stupid government policies and manipulations (and corporate welfare and corporate tax breaks) are really hurting the average home owner. Here in New York, it’s hit us hard. So I flipped when I saw this headline at my local online newspaper:

State Legislature Passes $1B in Cuts

Wooohoo! Now, $1 billion is a lot of money to us, but not to New York State, which has a budget of $122 billion this year. Nonetheless, I think it is the first time in a very long time (what is it, 100 years now?!) that New York has passed spending cuts! Of course, they are going to cut “services” and “programs,” but not necessarily salaries. Oh well. At least it’s a start. Now, if they’d only lower the stinking taxes…

This is interesting: a documentary is coming out– tomorrow!– with a limited release, about our present economy, recession woes, and the national debt. It’s titled I.O.U.S.A.. Bigwigs like Warren Buffet, William Niskanen of the Cato Institute; Bill Novelli of AARP; Pete Peterson of The Blackstone Group; and Dave Walker former U.S. Comptroller General are among the talking heads in the documentary. The movie is produced by Fathom and Roadside Attractions. Looks amazing! The nearest theatre location for me is in Syracuse, so I may have to miss it– but how I wish I could go! I’d love to know more about the national debt and the housing market crisis. Truly, I’d like to know why the government is grossly MISHANDLING our economy, our industries, and our nation’s financial system.

It’s a one-night special showing, scheduled for Thursday, August 21, 8pm Eastern Standard Time. Tickets are reasonable, between $11.50 and $20, depending on your location (of course New York State will be the most expensive). Yet I’m very sorry I’m going to miss it, but maybe they’ll have another release sometime, I hope! If you can make it, I recommend it– looks outstanding! Check for available theatres in the United States. There’s also a way to search by zip code for a location nearest you.

I’d love to see what the “financial experts” have to say about what’s going on in this country. Will it be an Alex-Jones-ish, Michael Moorie-ish expose of deception, pocket padding, and global fascism? That’s what I’d really like to know! If YOU see it, be sure to send me a note and tell me how it was!

I saw an interesting news article at CNN, Is Your Job Recession-Proof? Here in Upstate New York, most people can (and have) answered that question with a resounding “no.” We’ve seen not only a massive exodus of people leave the state, but a massive exodus of jobs. New York State is perhaps the most hostile for business, or we’re a close second to California. Excessively high taxation, high and stringent regulation, penalties for non-union and non-corporation businesses, and an extremely high cost of living are the main causes. It’s been building to a climax for nearly 30 years now, and the poor frog in the pan is almost cooked through.

However, there are some temporarily recession-proof jobs in the state. But they are all all government jobs. And government jobs are paid for by taxpayers in the private sector. When you have a decreasing population, a remaining population with fewer jobs and lower wages, and a high cost of living, the schism between cushy government jobs and the working people is overwhelming and totally unsustainable.

So it is with this knowledge that I read the CNN article. Their list of recession-proof jobs is as follows:

1. Education –we’ll need more teachers, says CNN; we’ll get only more administrators, says Mrs. Mecomber. Education jobs are 100% funded by taxpayers.

2. Energy sector –oil, gas, and geothermal industry, and more engineers. Taxpayers pay for research and some corporations get government support/bail-outs.

3. Environmental sector –engineers and scientists for research into “green” technology. Again, research is heavily funded by taxpayers.

4. Health Care –nurses, technicians, etc. Health care is already bankrolled by the states; should it go national, expect a collapse of the economy, not a boost. Like P.J. O’Rourke said, “f you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free.”

5. Security –border patrols, police, Homeland “Security” jobs, etc. These are 100% taxpayer-funded jobs.

Now, there are a lot of jobs in the private sector that belong in that list. But by and large, education, environment, health care, and security are mainstays of governmental jobs. I do not see how on earth that jobs can continue to grow in the government, with wages and perks going higher and higher, while the taxpayers are suffering job losses and extremely high cost of living. Taxes are continually going up, and taxpayers are going under. You’d think that there would be a clarion call for government to shrink in size, and build a new policy toward encouraging small business. Nope. Everything is going to China or India, except government jobs. Oh wait– some government jobs are going there, too, because fewer and fewer taxpayers are able to support the great big behemoth that is U.S. government and all its bureaucracies (not to mention all the perks, pork and taxpayer-funded cruises).

I don’t see how this kind of economy can sustain itself in a capitalist economic system. Of course, I don’t think many in government want a capitalist system anymore. Doesn’t this type of economy they are pushing on us look a lot like fascism?

Thanks to Attempts at Sustainable Living for the CNN news story.

Interesting news from Bloomberg this morning: the second-largest U.S. securities firm is tightening the home-equity belt.

Morgan Stanley, the second-biggest U.S. securities firm, told thousands of clients this week that they won’t be allowed to withdraw money on their home-equity credit lines, said a person familiar with the situation.

Most of the clients had properties that have lost value, according to the person, who declined to be identified because the information isn’t public. The New York-based investment bank will review home-equity lines of credit, or HELOCs, monthly from now on, the person said yesterday.

I’ve never liked the idea of a home-equity line of credit. It’s risky for investors and it is incredibly risky for home-owners. It’s far too easy to spend into the indebted obscurity of a black hole. I would never, never, never get a line of credit for this house– it would gobble up every dollar and then demand blood. It is essential to have a budget and stick to it.

But this move by Morgan Stanley sends shivers up my spine. They are being secretive about their losses, but speculative estimates are upwards into the billions, most of which is unrecoverable.

The president and his cronies can toss flower petals all day, and say that the economy is “good” or “recovering.” But when you see the biggest and riskiest of banks and firms closing their doors and shutting down lending systems, it evokes bells and whistles that things are going down for a while. I’m as optimistic as any one, but it would be plain dumb to pretend that nothing is wrong and to keep spending, spending, spending like drunken sailors. Why oh why is our government the first to create the problem and the last to fix it?

High oil prices are affecting roofing materials. Unfortunately, when a house needs a roof, a house needs a roof. Be prepared to pay through the nose. A news story from Syracuse quoted a roofing contractor as saying that roof prices have gone up fifteen times in the past two years. What was once an expensive $43 a square foot for basic asphalt shingles is now about $60! Ouch! I’m glad we got our new roof installed when we moved here, but that was eleven years ago. Depending on the environment (heat, ice, the absence or presence of trees), the average lifespan of a new asphalt roof is 20 years.

By the way, you should never install two roofs– you know, a new roof on top of an old one. When we moved here, one roofing contractor said we could do that to save money; he said there was only one roof layer on and adding another on top might be a good idea. It would also be cheaper, because there is nothing to tear off and dispose of (which is very expensive to do). But we decided to swallow the price of a more expensive tear-off.(And we hired a different roofer who wouldn’t try to sell us something we didn’t want to do). BOY was THAT a great decision! Because there was not one, not two, but already THREE layers of roofing on the roof of the house. And the wood beneath it was moldy and cracked. We have to pay extra to replace the bad boards. But I don’t care. If we had just slapped on another layer, I doubt the rafters would have held the weight. And the old roofing was leaky and rotted. I shake my head at the folks who owned the house before us, because they were the Methodist Church, and this house was their parsonage. They took such crappy care of this place that I am amazed they’d even lift their heads to greet their pastor. How can anyone let a young family live in such deplorable conditions? This house was a disaster!

Well, anyway… slapping a new roof on top of an old one is inadvisable and you’re asking for trouble. If you are nubile enough, you can always strap on some cabling and rip the old stuff off yourself, saving money. Gee, the old days of musing over expensive frivolities like espresso machines is over, I think. We’re being squeezed over the basic necessities, now!

I’ve said it numerous times before and I’m still saying it– the economy in the United States as well as the rest of the industrialized world is undergoing a radical change. Our lifestyles of excessive waste and consumerism are rapidly going by the wayside. I think we are going to see a need for more frugal living.

For many years, I’ve watched the demographics of American communities change. Remember in the 1950s, there was this trend of expansion? This was the time of the automobile, the shopping malls, the suburban development, the “plastic” age. Our society was built on the production and consumption of affordable petroleum. It was a big artificial bubble built on a shaky kind of prosperity (foreign oil and foreign goodwill). Things have changed. Now that world governments are ruining the economies and the food supply, I think we will have to change our way of life to adapt.

For example, my nearest grocery store is two towns away. That’s over 3 miles, and I am one of the closer ones! Some people have to drive 30 miles– THIRTY MILES– to get groceries. I’ve heard of some people getting scooters or mules or horses for transportation, but here in the Northeast, it is impossible to go that far to get groceries without a vehicle and gasoline. What happens when owning a vehicle and buying gasoline is no longer affordable (and I believe this will happen)?

Our modern society has been built on the automobile. There once was a small mom-and-pop grocery store down the street, but they closed about ten years ago because they couldn’t compete with WalMart, (just 10 miles, but a whopping 25 minutes away). And my town has “sections” of development that were concocted in the 1960s– a section for shopping (and the traffic is crazy there!), a section for housing, a section for government offices, etc. American state and town governments have basically eliminated the community. Anyone remember when we used to have communities– you know, the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker, lol. You knew who your grocer was, your postman, your doctor, etc, and everyone was close by. You didn’t have to drive 20 miles to buy clothes or 15 miles to see the family doctor. Today everything is so far removed, and cold and antiseptic. I think we are going to see a huge change because this kind of lifestyle is no longer sustainable. I hate to admit it as much as anyone, but I really don’t think gasoline prices, energy prices, and taxes are going to go down.

What irks me is the mindset of so many “greenies.” It’s so very popular to live “green,” to do things the “green” way… but what good is it to recycle your plastics and still drive an SUV? You are canceling out any benefits you might offer. Going “green” is a lifestyle; it’s not a good deed you do once in a while to make yourself feel good or earn a gold star in school. And it’s not a laborless lifestyle, either; going green is HARD WORK.

Maybe I’m ranting a little… but I see an earth-shaking change coming and if we want to make it through, we need to realize that we need to change ourselves. We are going to have to build local communities again, just to be able to meet our basic needs. I think the time of excessive, individualistic living is over.