POLI: Proof From Houston Things Arn't So Peachy

What amazes me is all the construction of new buildings where I live and all the ones that have closed and are for lease. Why build new when the older ones arent even being used. Its creepy where I live in FL. If you drive down one of the main roads you see a lot of empty buildings yet next to it a new plaza is being built. I dont get it.

I'm down north of Houston and can also say that things around here aren't getting better. I teach in Adult Ed and we are receiving a lot of clients from workforce. Many who are about to run out of benefits.

In the six years I've been here, this is the busiest I have ever seen it. These folks can't find a job and the jobs they do come across are usually minimum wage. Many businesses have gone under and all that is left are boarded up buildings.

For the sakes of these folks and their family, I really wish the economy was getting better. But from what I see, it isn't.

Those pictures all tell the story. In the outlying areas around Atlanta, that's all you see is buildings for lease, warehouse space for lease, new subdivisions with 3 houses built and construction stopped, less traffic than anytime in history and day-care centers and pre-school facilities are closing overnight all over the place.

So when the market was at the bottom, none of the "general public" had any money to invest. Now the market is going up and it is being driven by the dollars from the Pelosi's and the rest of the bottom feeders of the world.

It's all pretty fascinating to look at once you understand their game and how it is played..By using THEIR game plan, I will make more this year than the last 3!!!!! yippeee!!!! Thanks for wrecking the country Obama...now my greatest return on investments ever will be worth zilch!!!!!

Better get those 401k's out now and pay off the house before it is too late or else they are gonna hose you again on the mortgage.....

maybe we will all be able to have a toast of self brewed potato vodka when we are getting together at tent city.....

good luck to all..the ride is now starting..please keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times.....it's gonna get WIIIILLLDDD!!!!

it's not Obama that wrecked the economy. if you remember it all started with the CFC (countrywide) collapse in 2007. the dems gained control of the congress in the 2006 elections which means they started work in january 2007. not sure if they had enough time to wreck anything in just a few months but anything is possible.

i totally agree though that the pictures are the same everywhere. i see more and more plazas going "blank" but that also started in 2007-2008. it's sad that people have a very short memory. or maybe my area is just worse and felt it before yours.

as for money, i think people who got suckered into the 401K myth deserve what they got. people who sign papers without reading them deserve to lose money. if you really want to invest, open a trader account and read up, then do your own investing so you can't blame the "big bad corporations" for stealing your money. if you lose money from your own trades you're the one to blame!

No big news here in Ohio. Our commercial real estate landscape has looked like that for years. We even have at least 2 large dead shopping malls in NE Ohio.

Sorry Houston! We feel your pain.

CowboyDrifter, you might want to read this. It is not just people who bought too much home; unemployment has hit record highs and is eroding from the bottom up.

The subprime to prime mortgage handoff


We will need to see next quarter’s trend to confirm this absolutely because of the inclusion of Alt-A loans.

We live in a consumer economy. Where 70% of our annual GDP is supply and demand.

When the consumer is not busy buying the economy hurts.

I quote Karl Denninger:
"No consumer, no economic recovery. No jobs, no consumer.

Its pretty simple folks."

The Market Ticker

[edit on 8/27/2009 by Tentickles]

My $.02 for what it's worth: As a small business owner of a retail establishment, let me say that even when times are really good, a lot of retail stores operate on very thin margins as it is. When you add poor management and lack of foresight to the mix, you get stores that are teetering on the edge, and all it takes is a mild recession to push them over to their demise. Thankfully, I live in a state that hasn't felt the full brunt of the recession, and we've remained somewhat steady - and even hired an additional person recently.

Another thing to consider is that when times are good and people are blowing that disposable income willy-nilly on stuff they don't need, competition spawns and price wars start, further eroding margins. Take Circuit City and Best Buy for instance. You almost always found one near the other, and when CC was in business, they would use stuff like DVDs as loss leaders to get people in the door, but once people were inside, service sucked. That's where Best Buy prevailed and that's why Best Buy is still standing. CC tried to up their game near the end but they had already dug their grave. I'm sure Best Buy is still tottering, though.

And on the subject of willy-nilly spending, what you are seeing is less spending in areas of zero necessity. People spend money on things they need when times are bad, rather than what they don't, and when most people are living paycheck to paycheck, things like DVDs are luxuries to them. Also, people used credit to do most of that willy-nilly consuming, and we all know where credit is right now. Sorry for the economics 101 lecture, but it is pretty simple when you distill it.

So in conclusion, the empty retail space is a symptom of the excesses committed by everyone. It was overbuilt just like housing. Until people can get credit again (which SHOULD be hard to obtain), it will persist for some time. Personally I think it is not as "devastating" as it may seem, since people should not have been overextending themselves for years and years. It's a healthy dose of tough love, if anything, and we should all learn from it... Don't buy what you can't pay for. Don't buy what you don't need.

[edit on 27-8-2009 by AwakeinNM]

Great OP.


Not that this is the same thing but....I've noticed for myself how places such as Chinese restaurants have changed to compete with the larger corporate type Buffet and much of the same questionable food...........likely from China?

I've been to these years before and typically got sick for whatever reason. I recently went in to try out a Chinese buffet where Old Country Buffet used to be a few years ago. The food was nearly identical to a different one about 30 miles in the other direction.

What I didn't realize was that there were no soda or drink self service stations there and when I went to check out, they charged my about $3.00 for a glass of water. I was glad I didn't have a refill. No tip for them and NO return since either.

If they don't have you pay when you enter, it's not a bargain, it's a scam.

It had been awhile since I've eaten out and now that the weather has cooled down, I'm cooking at home again.

I have to wonder with the weather so hot in Texas, do people cook as much or go out? I was in Texas about 11 years ago and the food really sucked where my kid took me to.


Here in Michigan, they have Texas Corral and I went there at first a few times for their ribs until I got skunked with "Jerky Ribs" more than once and gave up on them.

The 'all you can eat' ribs were fantastic.......at first...when they opened.

Haven't been back in years.

Restaurants like Mc Donalds have been doing very well. I've been too depressed to cook for myself many times. Mc Donalds still isn't a bargain though, it's just convenience for a hot meal. People can only take so much before they crack and protest. It's coming very soon.

I've noticed Burger King doesn't always offer the same menu and or prices like the whopper Jr in some places as if some monopoly on the more expensive choices. That's discrimination to me. Do you really care? I do.

I'm mad as hell and I'm not buying take-out anymore

reply to post by midnightbrigade

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You're right and this is the whole problem with government intervention. Look someone's loss HAS to be someone's gain. That's the way a supply and demand economy works. For example.........housing prices in Southern California. It's NUTS! Prices have hardly come down. Yeah plenty of houses have gone into foreclosure and lots are in short sale. But that's the problem. No one wants to take a loss selling these assets at what they are really worth. Banks are holding on to these properties like crazy. Many many houses should be atleast half of what they were before this mess started. Banks won't budge and meanwhile they are getting bailed out by the FDIC and government.

I feel sorry for people who've lost their savings and whose homes are foreclosed on. But my wife and I have been on the sidelines for years after owning a home in 2003. We've been ready to buy for the past two years but houses are still way over inflated here. There are LOTS of Americans in my situation, people waiting to buy. I can only imagine commercial real estate is even worse. I mean come on..........get people in these houses and get people in these closed up shops. What's worse.......losing more money on them or letting them sit vacant for the next year? It's stupid. and it call comes down to greed.. These banks don't want to lose anymore money.

reply to post by Tentickles

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I know! People who are still employed and looking down at those who aren't working as though they are lazy tell me to just suck it up, swallow my pride and go apply at fast food places because I'm not contributing to society. I have not only did it but I've re-applied a bunch of times and have been moving from one area to another. I keep telling these people that they should be careful with their attitude because they could very well end up in my situation. They just laugh at me. Not all people I know, directly or indirectly, act this way but more than a few do. I think right now, the best hope for work the unemployed person can get is to know someone working somewhere that can put in a good word for you.

Unfortunately, lot of my friends are in the same boat, or are about to and others are nurses or are in a trade where you need to go to school to be able to work there. I even tried finding working shoveling poop and digging ditches, nothing. It's just crazy. I see road construction happening on the interstate nearby and throughout the city but I guess they hired all the people they need because I can't even get them to respond. I even tried doing what I did when I was a kid, which is mowing peoples lawn, walking their dogs, but no is up for that. I don't even ask for that much! Maybe my luck will be better in the winter time, i'll shovel the whole damn neighborhoods side walks if I don't find anything by then.

Man, drive around Houston at 5 oclock traffic, and see it aint that bad, that should tell you something too

Where your photographs taken out in the Sugar Land area by chance?? Its sad to hear Houston is fairing no better than the Dallas Fort Worth area. Theres such a huge glut of natural gas most of the drillers have pulled their rigs from the barnett shale here in the area.

reply to post by Tentickles

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Hey tentickles - nice article and (unfortunately) a most astute observation of the reality vs the official word... And I was literally brought to tears that you offered your meal to a homeless man... I was discussing this morning with someone how we all have to have one hand out to give and the other hand out to receive - there is no other way for "us" to survive...

[edit on 27-8-2009 by kshaund]

reply to post by kshaund

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Thank you for the compliment Kshaund.

Steve was very grateful for the meal and since July 12th, I've fed him 2 more times, he's still living on the street.

The worst part is that there are even more homeless in the area I found Steve in...

It's a sign of the times - and only going to get far worse - not sure what's happening in other countries, like europe regarding homelessness, any idea? It seems the US is the worst, but I'm not sure if it's because we live here (I'm technically in Canada, but only by a few miles ;-) and don't get other news much about other countries. I know Venezuela (I think it is) was very hard hit - tent cities going up - I personally don't mind living in a tent, quite enjoy it, but would want it on a shoreline somewhere in nature rather than a concrete mall parking lot....