See all the pretty houses

Vacations are fun, if only as a temporary diversion from the larger reality that is life in the Bush oligopoly. Dispensing with mainstream news and the clamoring talking heads of cable television, while basking in picture perfect days of 85 degrees and sunny, gives the illusion that all is well in the land of the formerly free.

As Mary and I took our daily walks at dawn, amongst the villas of the Rotunda subdivision (aka, Pleasantville), replete with sprinkler fed front lawns and SUV’s and Jaguars sitting in the driveways, the surreal quality of the picture made me chuckle each day. My guess of the makeup of most of the residents, were that they were retirees who had come of age in a country that allowed retirement in manicured subdivisions, bordering impeccably kept fairways. An economy that was powered by companies that hadn’t discovered offshoring jobs as a way to keep investors fat and happy, allowed these folks the luxury of a retirement based on leisure and comfort, truly, the American dream as promised. Many of the men, part of the post-WWII crowd, buoyed by the GI bill for college, entered a career track that allowed them to build a comfortable nest egg that provided their twilight years with comfort and financial happiness. Without corporate-sponsored pensions and the favorable economic model available to them, my generation and the ones that follow, probably won’t be spending their waning years in the lap of luxury, like these fortunate folks have.

Over the past four years of traveling south, I’ve witnessed first-hand the up spike in real estate prices. Each year, I’ve seen the prospect of being able to sell my home here in Maine and uproot, to a warmer climate, disappear. Our first year, back in 2003, we stayed in Homestead, which was a town bordering south Florida’s agricultural region. Many of the modest homes were priced below our current evaluation here in Maine. The next two years, we stayed in Clearwater Beach and obviously, real estate near the coast was beyond our means. However, a 25-30 minute drive inland revealed some affordable options. This year, the Port Charlotte area, with its abundance of new construction, all built within the past five years, rarely had property below $200,000, and quite often, affordability was defined as property below $400,000. When I looked through the help wanted sections of the Sarasota-based paper, most jobs were paying less than similar positions in greater-Portland. My thought was, “who the hell is buying these homes” and I wondered out loud about where the landscapers, builders and other working-class people would be able to afford to live? The local public radio station, as well as the local newspaper, The Englewood Times featured that subject on more than one occasion, as this is obviously an issue that locals are aware of.

Interestingly, I also noticed a number of partially finished homes, displaying “for sale” signs, as the builder had started construction and the prospective client had been unable to see the process to fruition. I then ran across this post by Jim Kunstler, discussing his own area in upstate New York, the beautiful Saratoga Springs region.

Referring to his own local newspaper, once more trumpeting perpetual growth in the in the local housing market, and that housing prices will continue to escalate ad infinitum, Kunstler writes, “Spring here in the North Country brings with it a ripe expectation that the winter real estate doldrums will soon yield to raptures of zippy sales. Of course this is based on the assumption that the year ahead will be like the recent years just past, only better! The sense of momentum in the real estate markets is reinforced by the fact that so much stuff has worked through the arduous permitting process and is just now coming up for sale, with even more stuff behind it moving through the cloacal pipeline, so to speak -- so therefore the buyers will automatically appear drooling into their checkbooks.I don't think so. I think that what we are getting here is stupendously delusional behavior. The ebullience in the newspaper only tells me how much unexpressed subconscious terror lurks just below the surface of wished-for "normality." For one thing, anybody who walks around this town can hardly fail to notice how the realtor's signs are accumulating in the front yards. Nothing's moving. Outside of town, in the suburban asteroid belts that only ten years ago were cornfields and cow pastures, there's a much more lavish supply of new houses. I detect an odor of bloodshed.This has been a hot market for a while, because Saratoga is an historic "main street" town in pretty good condition with a high level of cultural amenity, close to the gigantic Adirondack Park. The three old cities nearby which comprise the employment centers of the Capital District -- Albany, Schenectady, and Troy -- are in such a state of squalid decrepitude that practically anyone gainfully employed has fled shrieking lately, and Saratoga has attracted many willing to tolerate a 30-plus mile commute.”

Kunstler’s terrain, like the overbuilt subdivisions and filled-in swamps of Southwestern Florida are ripe for a correction. He goes on to mention that hot real estate markets all over the country appear to be cooling off, causing many recent buyers sleepless nights and a reach for the roll of antacids. He continues in the post, “It makes my head hurt to imagine the coming carnage on the real estate scene here. Nation-wide, the latest figures are not reassuring. Even hot markets cool off when evil economic winds blow. According to the California Association of Realtors, sales of existing, single-family detached homes were down 24.1 percent, the highest year-on-year decline since December 1990 when sales dropped 25.2 percent. The National Association of Realtors reports Massachusetts home sales are down 21 percent and listings up 41 percent. In Florida existing home sales are down 19 percent. In Alabama existing home sales down 21 percent and listings up 17 percent. Pennsylvania sales down 17 percent. Minnesota sales down 7 percent and inventory Up 35 percent.”

What does all this mean? Well, obviously, what goes up, must come down, at least if the current housing bubble bursts. This could obviously mean some very tough sledding for many in our country, particularly those utilizing adjustable rate mortgages and other tools that allowed them to acquire more house than they ordinarily could afford.

Now that I’ve awoken from my “dream” of the past ten days, I’ve been able to process some of the indicators that made me a tad uneasy at times, on my trip. Kunstler’s weekly shot across the bow helps me make some sense of my own recent misgivings.

The return to reality

All good things must come to an end, or so the cliche goes. I guess that also goes for needed vacations. Our 10 day frolic in the sun ends today. I'm up early again (no surprise) and strangely, have found a weak wi-fi connection in my corner of Pleasantville.

With our need to control expenses, budget air accomadations were the order of the day, when we originally booked our flight on Allegiant Air, which only flies into Sanford, a three plus hour drive from where we are staying (Port Charlotte). The drive down was fun, as we took back roads and played the part of tourists, with no time constraints affecting our trip. Today, we'll battle interstate and tollway traffic as we creep northward, back to the Orlando area.

This may have been one of our best vacations, not so much for what we did, but for what we didn't do. I spent very little time focusing on news and politics, other than reading the local newspaper. I did listen to NPR each morning while preparing breakfast, but Mary made me turn it off if I started shouting at the commentator. This only happened twice, both times in relation to a story involving the war in Iraq and our woeful president.

Since we didn't have cable TV (just an antennae, which pulled in about 5 stations), we read. I plowed through two books by Jonathan Franzen and started another one by Harmon Leon, the very funny, Republican Like Me. Franzen is a very good writer and The Corrections is one of the better works of fiction I've ever read. I'll probably tackle one of his other books in the next couple of months.

From our 10 days of sun and 80 degree temps, I'm sure I'll be shivering come Monday, as I battle to restock my wood box and get a fire going, all to ward off the 30 degree days that await us, back in Maine.

With light from the sun

I hate leaving my blog unattended for too long. However, despite the hype that technology is portable, things happen and wi-fi connections are not as common as one might think. In addition, my lack of acumen using my wife's laptop had me neglecting to hit the switch activating my wi-fi reception, or I would have had a post up, Saturday.

Seeing that it's March, we find ourselves once more, basking in the surreal sunshine of Florida, catching the Wheaton baseball version of spring training, this year located in Port Charlotte.

While I'll spare readers all the interesting details, at least for now, I'll list a few thoughts/items that I've enjoyed since flying out, last Thursday.

Good Books (Jonathan Franzen, Jacob Slichter)
GMBO 8
Baum's going 2-4, with two well-stroked doubles
Englewood Beach (Despite a $68.50 parking ticket)
A stylin' villa, replete with a daily visit from an alligator who roams the canal out back
The opportunity to do some writing purely for the sake of writing

In my way of thinking, a good vacation allows the opportunity for relaxation and some downtime from technology and the ever-present invasion of television, computers and cell phones. Despite this nod to the microchip, I've been pretty much "disconnected" from much of the chatter of post-modern life. Amazingly, the world still rolls on.

Fear wins again!

USAPA II, unleashed on ordinary Americans

Despite all the feigned concern over renewal of USAPA (USA Patriot Act), when it came time to vote, most of our elected officials knuckled under. A few representatives held firm and refused to go along for the ride, such as Russ Feingold (and Maine’s own Reps. Allen and Michaud), but Bush and his fascist tendencies once again received the validation and support of his minions and the supposed opposition.

Over the past year, or more, one of the few voices of real outrage (not the entertainment-driven, counterfeit kind of most talk jocks) on the radio dial has been that of Air America’s Mike Malloy. Malloy, normally relegated to the late night shift at America’s only national progressive talk affiliate, has been subbing for Randi Rhodes, this past week. Rhodes, who occupies the coveted 3-6 slot, nationwide, is a firebrand in her own unique way. I was curious if Malloy, drawn out of the shadows of late night radio, would tone his rhetoric down. Au contraire! He’s been his usual, caustic self, lambasting the “Bush crime family” for all of America to hear. I’m sure there are a few surprised Air America listeners shaking their heads and scandalized by Mike’s use of the term “sons of a bitches” (of which he’s apologized several times, forgetting the young tikes in the mini-vans of America, being transported by soccer moms, at this time of day).

The easy passage of USAPA goes right along with what people like Malloy, columnists (and bloggers) such as Josh Marshall and of course, Counterpunch and many other true progressive and alternative media outlets have been warning about. The steady erosion of civil liberties and freedoms, fueled by fear, all in the name of fighting terror is a bogus construct, but as I’ve touched upon of late, is virtually blacked out by mainstream news. As a result, most Americans happily run about their miserable little lives, given to purchasing the latest big screen HD TV, oblivious to the dismantling of their country, one liberty at a time.

If you can’t stay up late, then do yourself a favor and tune in today and tomorrow, before they send Malloy back to his usual isolated spot, late nights on Air America. If nothing else, you’ll actually see someone who doesn’t resort to irony and the 20-something catchphrase of “whatever” to deal with the crypto-fascists run amok in our land. He’s pissed, unapologetic and determined to slap some sense into as many people as he can. He doesn’t sugarcoat it, or promise a happy ending, either. He’s not an entertainer; he’s what talk radio used to be, back before drug addicts like Limbaugh, pretty boys like Hannity and serial gropers the likes of O’Reilly, polluted the public airwaves. It's a shame there isn't a way to get him on even more stations. Of course, Clear Channel and other corporate media whores aren't going to allow the likes of Malloy and other progressives a wider hearing. Conservatives derive great glee in taunting progressives about their lack of access, but I think it speaks volumes about the state of media and the selling of America, and how the FCC has turned over our airwaves to right-wing rogues.

This will probably be my last salvo for a bit, as I’ll be away from regular internet access for much of the next week. I’ll try to throw something up, if I can, but I’m not making any promises.

Focusing on the wrong stories

As mentioned in my previous post, there are many news stories that go unreported, or receive inadequate coverage in comparison to their importance. While the “war on terror” is all the rage, guaranteed to fan the flames of fear and keep us all docile to Big Brother, a more serious threat, global warming, receives woefully inadequate coverage.

While anecdotally, many people sense that something’s seriously whacked with our weather, most prefer not to mention global warming, hoping that it will go away. Friends, let me tell you, whether our media acknowledges it and racks it according to its potential to change life as we know it, or not, we face some serious consequences unless we drastically change our behavior, before it’s too late. Burying our heads in the sand, or tilting at goblins won't cut it, either.

While I don’t qualify as a graybeard, yet (maybe salt ‘n pepper), I’ve lived long enough to know that this winter has been the strangest I’ve experienced in my 44 years on the planet. January days of 50 degree weather and shirtsleeves, people raking leaves rather than shoveling snow and meteorologists verifying that the month's temperatures have been the second-warmest on record for the northeast. Interestingly, this winter of no snow follows last year’s record breaking snowfalls on the Cape and other places. In fact, a map produced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows temperatures above average all over the U.S.

Roger Harrabin, an environmental correspondent for the BBC reports that scientists will soon announce that only greenhouse gas emissions can account for the freakish weather that’s been experienced across the globe.

While our president paid lip service to alternative energy in his last state of the union address, he’s rigorously refused to accept any targets set for the reduction of U.S. CO2 emissions. Even the British, despite Prime Minister Blair’s call for new technologies, are resistant to force business to drastically reduce their CO2 output.

None of this bodes well for the long-term, war on terror, or not.