Rough Road Ahead
May 29th, 2008 | by Paul Merda |If Americans are driving less, buying less and have less wealth than ever, where are we headed? Down a rough road people. Hang on, things have just started to get ugly. Americans drove 11 billion less miles last year, the biggest decline since 1940 when WW2 was going down and no one could buy cars and fuel . Not to mention other economic indicators…
Prices are going up more than the official numbers tell us, in other words. About the only thing that is going down, for the typical American, is the price of his house. And here the news that house prices are going down more than we thought too. The latest survey results from Case/Shiller show the average house in America’s largest 20 cities down 14.4% in March over a year earlier – the largest drop on record.
20 Responses to “Rough Road Ahead”
By admin on May 29, 2008 | Reply
Hey Paul, great piece but one correction. It’s not 11 Billion less last year, it’s 11 billion miles less in March compared to a year ago. That’s 1 month’s total, not a yearly total which makes it even more powerful. We drove 4.3% less than we did last march.
Since Novemeber we have driven 17.3 billion miles less since November, (that includes a 1 billion-mile increase in February)than we did for the same time last year. Yet what’s happened to gas prices? Nationally, average gas prices increased to a record $3.944 from $3.937 on Tuesday (2 days ago folks). That’s nearly a dollar higher than a year ago even with the conservation.
You are right pal, we are headed down a rough road - a road we helped build.
By Jet Netwal on May 29, 2008 | Reply
If your local government officials ran on a platform against public transporation (here in Central Florida it was a proposal for Light Rail) you might want to keep that in mind in November.
Also, download Soul Coughing’s “Bus to Beelzebub”… it won’t make you rich, but it’ll take your mind off things.
“I feel I must elucidate
I ate the chump with guile”
Hee
By Paul Merda on May 29, 2008 | Reply
Thanks for the correction sir! And yes, we are too complacent and we have allowed this to happen. Hopefully there is time to do something about it…
By mr bigstuff on May 29, 2008 | Reply
thanx to the 54 million american fools who voted for w…………………twice. we got what the fox fed fools voted for.
By Lisa on May 29, 2008 | Reply
Did you know that that even though house prices went down they are still 16% higher than in 2000?
Yep it’s going to get tougher when Global Warming taxes are figured in and the Kyoto treaty gets signed. We’ll all be forced to carry a Co2 ration card like the UK does.
But those are good things even though it will hurt our pocketbooks and our economy,right?
I can’t wait to see how the dems are going to fix everything unlike the democrat congress has or for that matter even has the slightest plan.
By rube cretin on May 29, 2008 | Reply
lets see. We blame the president, the congress, the oil companies, the speculators, the Arabs, the Democrats, the Republicans, the Humvee drivers, the McMansion owners, the war, Detroit, China and India, Hillary, Bill, etc. Wonder if the real villain is in that mirror over there. Think I will take a look, after i finish hoeing this row of beans.
By Paul Merda on May 29, 2008 | Reply
Egad Lisa, are you for real? Do you really think the GOP has a plan. What did they do for you when they held absolute power for fours years? They bashed gay people, that’s it. No cutting goverment spending, no cutting social programs people like you hate, no siree. In fact the GOP Pres and the GOP congress spent more money than Lyndon B Johnson. Why would you go vote for those liars now? They have lied to you and everyone who voted for them, year after year, and just like the sheople that you are you will line right back up and vote for the lying sacks of crap once again.
At least the Dems are honest, they say they want to tax you and spend the money on social programs and when they get elected they do just that… Drink the kool-aid lisa, drink it up…
By Ken Grandlund on May 29, 2008 | Reply
Collectively we may be driving less as a nation, but large swaths of us haven’t been able to reduce much of our car travel. Out west, the whole place was built into suburbia, meaning the norm is at least 10 miles each way to work. For many thousands (like me) getting to and from work is a 75 mile adventure.
In the Northeast, towns and cities developed close together and created viable public transportation systems. Out west, if I wanted to take public transport to work, I’d need to take a bus to the train station, then take the train, then grab at least another bus or two just to get within half a mile to my office. The costs almost equal my fuel expenses now, and the time to travel would increse at least two fold if not more. Can’t just run to the subway and catch the next tram in 5 minutes for a quick ride and walk to work.
Pleasure travel has decreased and we’ve tried to further maximize our errand travels, but still…
Rube is right, to an extent. Look in the mirror and see who to blame. Sort of. We are a very wasteful society. And we have been given no real compulsion to change until just very recently.
But for many here, the course of American life and infrastructure was built before we came along…the wheels were turned before we could even reach the pedals. We’ve been plopped into this lifestyle without say on how to set it up. Now to effect change and redevise the parameters is like teaching a cat to swim upstream. Difficult in the best of circumstances.
Still, I believe that a nationally driven effort to reform not only our energy resources but our entire infrastructure would be a boon to our economy and our population in many many ways. If we were only using our money on this instead of fighting a bad war and locking up pot smokers and all the other wasteful, stupid programs we’d be doing much better.
By Lisa on May 29, 2008 | Reply
Oh yeah Paul they bashed gay people. Give me a break. So because the dems are honest about raising taxes for what they want to raise them for that’s okay with you?
When you are taking home alot less of your paycheck and property taxes are out of control you will be saying how that is just fine because the taxes are being spent on social programs ones of which I can bet will not benefit you or me or the average middle class citizen. Bottoms up Paul!
By Lisa on May 29, 2008 | Reply
You really need to also get off that mantra that pot smokers get locked up.
That is one of the biggest liberal talking points.
By Lisa on May 29, 2008 | Reply
Sorry tat last comment was for Ken.
By Ken Grandlund on May 29, 2008 | Reply
So sorry Lisa but the war on drugs, and specifically the war on marijuana users, is one of the governments biggest wastes of taxpayer dollars and one of the biggest destructive forces to our society that i can think of. I will continue to rail against it and use it as an egregious example of governmental mismanagement every freaking time i can.
deal with it.
By Lisa on May 29, 2008 | Reply
Okay Ken you keep believing that someone goes to prison for smoking a joint. I would rather get caught smoking a joint in this country than any other.
By Ken Grandlund on May 29, 2008 | Reply
guess you’ve conveniently ignored the fact that a great many pot busts and sentences are for posession…and here’s a hint, people possess to use. its a corollary fact, so in effect, yes…people are locked up in this country for smoking pot. it may be getting easier, but we still waste a lot of time and money going after pot users.
let’s see…Canada, the Netherlands, Jamaica…all better places to light up a doobie methinks. but I will agree that it’s better to light up in the us of a than in saudi arabia.
By Paul Watson on May 29, 2008 | Reply
Lisa,
The UK doesn’t have a CO2 card. I should know, after all. Perhaps you should spend more time checking your facts before you criticise Ken’s?
By Lisa on May 29, 2008 | Reply
Okay Paul my timing was off but I hear it’s coming:
http://irdial.com/blogdial/?p=1096
and then you have this:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-479572/Treasury-pockets-extra-10bn-green-taxes.html
All just to make it look good but it really does nothing to help
Ken-Try lighting up in Mexico
By christopher Radulich on May 29, 2008 | Reply
as usual Lisa wants things but doesn’t want to pay for them,a typical “conservative” attitude.
By Lisa on May 30, 2008 | Reply
Chris that’s the thing I don’t want those things. The dems don’t want it either they just use it to buy votes.