[Grovenet] What makes a city livable? Was: ACTION ALERT: Call for Measure 37 Suspension & Hearings

[David Morelli]

Thanks for the addition.

I just watched a special on Wal-Mart.  Whether you like it or not, it  
makes most of its profit selling Chinese goods to Americans.  In the  
process the factories in the United States are pushed to the brink,  
or over the edge while they compete with the off shore sources.   
Given Ron's description of our American life, I wonder if the workers  
in China are really working for that much less than we are working for.

One point made by one economist in the program was that the exchange  
rate with China was possibly 40% undervalued.  Nice to hear a guess  
at the spread.  Of course I agree with that perspective, and you have  
heard me push it before.  If the exchange rate were fully valued more  
of the American factories would be able to compete, and the price of  
oil would be much higher.  Which would address several of our other  
issues.

David

On Dec 12, 2006, at 7:15 PM, Ron D'Eau Claire wrote:

> As usual, David offers a excellent analysis. I'd like to add one more
> variable to the equation: wealth.
>
> Consider that in 1950 or 1960, families were raised in an  
> environment where
> one parent was a full-time at-home parent. The other parent made  
> enough
> money to cover the family's needs.
>
> Personal debt was a tiny fraction of what it is today. Home  
> mortgages had
> just become common for the first time, thanks to the huge demand and
> government support after WWII, including "no down payment"  
> purchases of
> homes through guarantees provided by the G.I. Bill, but credit  
> cards were
> almost unknown and rarely did families buy anything "on time".  
> Banks were
> heavily promoting loans to buy cars, but a lot of people still paid  
> in cash
> or they didn't buy.
>
> We Americans are much, much poorer today than we were half a  
> century ago in
> terms of paying for a healthy family lifestyle. We've almost  
> regressed to
> the standard we had in 1900 where people were tied to particular  
> employers
> or went bankrupt or became homeless.
>
> Americans today may not "...owe their soul to the Company store.."  
> but most
> of them owe their physical efforts to their bank and credit card  
> companies
> as they sink deeper and deeper into debt.
>
> All the while expectations have risen. In 1950, a new family with  
> one or two
> children was ecstatic to own a family home of 900 or 1,000 square  
> feet with
> two bedrooms and one bath. There was a living room where the family  
> spent
> time together and perhaps a dining room or a dining area off the  
> kitchen.
> That was it. No "family room", no "game room", and the rooms were  
> small. A
> large "master bedroom" was perhaps 10 by 12 feet, smaller than some  
> closets
> in modern houses. Sure, most of them were on 50x100 foot lots but  
> land was
> cheap and it gave the kids lots of room to play.
>
> Of course, back then they didn't have the fantastic range of  
> technology we
> do now. "High tech" was a console radio in the living room where  
> the family
> gathered to listen to music, dramas, comedies and news. Some well- 
> to-do
> families even bought a small "table model" radio for the kitchen so  
> Mom
> could listen to the "soaps" while doing chores. And then there were  
> those
> lucky ones who could scrape together enough for a TV set, if there  
> was a TV
> station within range, but in many small towns like my home town in
> California TV was watched by groups of people standing on the sidewalk
> watching a set the local Radio/TV shop left running in the front  
> window for
> years before they saved enough money to buy one. Our local library  
> tended to
> be filled with people in the evenings, reading books, newspapers  
> and kids
> doing homework. It was open every evening until 9 except Sundays. And
> "Hudlows", or local drive-in, was open until 9 or 10 every night; a  
> safe,
> fun gathering spot for the teens in town. If you know "Happy Days"  
> it was
> our local "Arnolds" where if you were broke you got a "pine  
> float" (a glass
> of water with a toothpick floating on top).
>
> Have those things: TV, computers, and the like, really added to the  
> success
> of American families and parenting in general? Does an X-box make  
> for a
> better-socialized and happier child? I suggest one ask the Amish.
>
> My point is that marrying and having children today is an exercise in
> voluntary servitude. A great many families today live in relative  
> poverty
> little different than the workers of a 100 years ago who labored 12  
> hours a
> day in mines, in the fields, or in the forests trying to make  
> enough to pay
> down their bill at the company store enough to get groceries to  
> make it
> through the coming week. If the wage-earner faltered with injury or  
> illness,
> the family went hungry. If he died or lost his job, the family was  
> homeless.
>
>
> There was precious little room in the budget of most people to  
> consider the
> actual "quality of life" then.
>
> There seems to be precious little room in the budget of most people to
> consider the actual "quality of life" today as well. And with both  
> parents
> away from home 10 to 12 hours a day trying to make enough money to  
> keep
> their credit payments current, there is precious little time to  
> enjoy those
> things the money bought, or to be parents to their children.
>
> Recently the National Association of Realtors noted that almost 2  
> in 5 home
> mortgages nationwide are now in default. Homeowners can't make the  
> payment
> and the year-long process of losing their home to the lender has  
> begun. They
> cite one reason for the high rate of defaults that so many  
> homeowners jumped
> for the various low-initial interest rate ARM loans a year or to  
> ago to
> refinance their homes and took equity out of their property that  
> they then
> used for vacations, a new car or electronic toys. Now, as the  
> interest rates
> on those mortgages are rising, they can no longer make the payments  
> and the
> money they took out of their equity is long gone.
>
> Is this a sign of a prosperous, functioning economy?
>
> No American city, town or village can be "livable" if the people are
> bankrupt.
>
> Ron D'Eau Claire