 | Charlie Hall's New Book, Udall and Bartlett on the NPC Report, and a New FAQ | The Oil Drum | DrumBeat: July 30, 2007 |  |
187 comments on DrumBeat: July 29, 2007
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I normally surf the web without images, javascript, cookies, HTTP referer (yes, that is spelling - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Referrer ), user agent, etc. But this morning, looking at a couple of bizarre images at http://icantsellmyhouse.blogspot.com, I also looked at a number of images of the older posts. This can't be real - I mean, yes it is, but seeing hundreds (some pictures are thousands) or homes packed the way they are is incredible - especially the green grass (or not, with foreclosed homes) backed up against what is at best dry scrub land, and the size of the homes.
What was most striking to me was how little open space the neighborhoods had (as noted, the open space they were placed was often immense, if virtually featureless). And yet, space is considered a valid reason for moving to such suburbs/exurbs - and then there is none, except for immense houses, often with a small pool and large driveway space for multiple vehichles - those which don't fit in the garage. Much is enclosed, and there is little way to imagine any sense of community developing, if only because this is so unreal, with easily half of the total space, including roads and yards, under a roof.
These residential structures are supposedly worth $500,000 each (or whatever) - 100 of them supposedly represents 50 million dollars (or whatever) in capital, value, investment, growth, satisfaction, independence. And yet, if the water is off for a few weeks, the scrubland begins to return, surrounding the structure. Which is unlikely to survive untended very long, as the life in the scrubland is likely to find that their neighborhood has been 'upgraded.'
The McMansions I saw a year or two ago in Loudoun, Va were what I imagined such neighborhoods to be - isolated, oversized houses poorly placed in the landscape that a few years ago was cornfields.
But these images were amazing in a way even Gary, IN wasn't. This is pure waste, the emptiness being filled with worthlessness (take that as you will). The longer such clearly unsustainable ways of life continue, the larger the problems. Debt on so many levels, and no way to ever pay it back in a meaningful way.
Somehow, this goes far beyond peak oil - where did things go so adrift in the U.S. that opposing such massively wrong ways of living is seen as the problem, not what is being built? And does anyone honestly think that the people holding the debt on this future scrubland are going to be charitable to those who sold it to them?
Expat, the people buying the big homes in former corn fields are, for the most part, following in the footsteps of their mothers and fathers. They are living 'the American dream.' Leanans thread above regarding auto sales and opinions in Pennsylvania are very revealing (nod of thanks to Leanan). nine of ten people surveyed believe that smaller more efficient vehicles are needed but one half of the vehicles sold fall into the catagory of SUVs, pickups and other large vehicles. It is the 'do as I say, not as I do,' or, 'it is a good idea for someone else' attitude. While out on my morning walk I passed one house that had a full size Hummer and a giant Ford 4wd, four door pickup in the driveway plus a large SUV parked on the street in front of the house. All of the vehicles look new and shiny and the people living in the home are new residents...living the 'American dream'...They will continue on in denial untill some severe shock brings them into the real world, then they will probably go ballistic.
I'm pretty much East Coast in terms of my frame of reference, though I have travelled and spent time in other areas such as the Pacific Northwest (San Fransisco northwards to Oregon and Seattle), Boulder City, Nevada, and Denver, Colorado.
But those pictures of development in the middle of dry scrubland/desert are unbelievable, as unbelievable as the homes I saw being built on the coast in Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia - this had been prevented in the past, but the evidence of homes built less than 20 feet above high tide, with nothing stopping the waves but the gently sloping beach, itself moving sand, was stunning. But beaches are luxury, however defined, as was Marin County in the mid-80s- houses built on hillsides that wouldn't last a decade, much less the next truly heavy rain or an earthquake.
But this is thousands of people at a time, involving not so theoretical hundreds of millions of dollars for the housing alone, much less the possessions of the people moving in - bought on debt or not, they also represent a necessary component of the current economy by providing an ever larger amount of space to fill with consumer goods. Creating emptiness to fill seems an American specialty (I'm spending this week getting rid of stuff - The size of the housing is also incredible - somehow, it seems more stark out West.
Even in E.T., you can see how alien the suburb is in its surroundings (which tend to be Hollywood augmented in a number of ways), but this is something else - this is truly nowhere in a sense that had never occurred to me. My memories or riding a motorcycle out from Vegas involve stark landscapes with little built in the emptiness, especially the park, military, and reservation land.
But like the building on the beach, it seems as if building in the desert is no longer treated with even minimal restraint.
Hello Expat,
Your Quote: "But like the building on the beach, it seems as if building in the desert is no longer treated with even minimal restraint."
Rant on/
Nonsense. When the Arizona topdogs thoughtfully contemplate the never-ending water replenishment quantities of our vast desert mirages stretching across the entire receding horizon--I am surprised our delusional leaders don't require everyone to wear a life-jacket to protect us from the awesome flashflooding tsunamis racing forward over the scorching plain. The current elite plan is to hope the non-stop expansion of multitudes of golf course sand bunkers and carwash sewage drains will be able to sufficiently absorb the onrushing storm surge.
Rant off/
Bob Shaw in Phx,Az Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?
I agree with all said here. My only objection is the implied criticism of the people. There's no reason for sacrifice unless there is, well, a reason. And there has been no reason given by our "leaders" or media. In my retirement I taught at night school (working adults) at a local college. Even some of my better students would have had a hard time graduating from the high schools I went to in the 50s. They work much harder than I ever worked, have much less time for fun that I had as a young guy, and have no experience of political activism. In the 60s you couldn't graduate cum laud unless you had made at least a feeble attempt at overthrowing the gov't. And yet, things then were many times easier for young people than they are now. (Maybe not for some blacks and latinos who have been able to make it into the middle class since then.)
This generation is struggling so hard to maintain a lifestyle their parents achieved so easily. They just don't know yet that it is impossible. There needs to be a political movement that tells the truth about these things. Otherwise there will be massive chaos and bloodshed as the wheels come off the cart.
I'm 25, and to be honest thats very obvious to me. using my parents life as a guide if the times were the same is should have my own place right now and a good bit into a long standing carrier. but right now as it stands for me to have my own place i would have to have 2 jobs(both would be low paying as in sub 10 bucks a hour) and all i could do to enjoy the place was sleep in it. I just don't see the value in doing so other then just for bragging rights about having my own place.
Truekaiser,
There's a great training program through the Midland Community College system to work on land drilling rigs. Its a short course-about 3 months as I recall-but you'll be able to get a good paying job working for a drilling company or workover rig company starting around $10 ph with as much overtime as you can stand.
You might also inquire with some of the offshore service companies. They are actively looking for men who are willing to work for two or thee weeks at 72 hours per week (7 12 hr days) followed by a week or two off. If you are any good with computers, the opportunities really open up. Try Transocean, Diamond Offshore or Rowan for drilling companies. No joke, you can be making $60K a year quickly.
Bob Ebersole
Thanks for this, expat. Under the June tab of icantsellmyhouse is a link to the California Assoc of Realtors:
http://www.car.org/index.php?id=Mzc1NDY
Some of these stats are mindblowing - could small data sets be the reason for so much apparent instability? In San Mateo County, Burlingame up 21%, while right next door in Millbrae, -30%, in ONE YEAR??
Sonoma used to be such an idyllic place, near enough but far enough from The City. And now the city of Sonoma shows a 36% decline in median home price in a single year. Party's over.
Rich white people that don't work are still doing well. You'll notice in the CAR May 2007 list in Contra Costa county Walnut Creek is flat, Danville is way up, while everything else is negative. It's the working class areas that are hemorrhaging value.
I live in Burlingame, and houses are still selling here, shopping areas are still busy. The Target store in San Mateo has visibly less traffic than last year though.
In my opinion (for all those cornucopians out there), this sort of living arrangement is so bizarre that it demonstrates that culture in the United States is completely psychotic, and further, that the majority of participants in that culture are therefore equally psychotic. They completely believe this is normal and can continue forever, never questioning it and always just accepting it. This is not to say that the rest of the world is mentally healthy just disturbed in slightly different ways but the US is mentally ill in ways that may be unique. And worse, and of even greater danger (again in my opinion), is that China and India apparently believes that their 2.3+ billion people can live the same way.
"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Dr. Albert Bartlett
Into the Grey Zone
I think anyone with a perspective from New England has a hard time imagining this - coming from Virginia, I certainly do - the pictures are incredible for me, and I have even visited some of those places - it is just I can't believe that so many people now live there.
And expect to live the way they do into the indefinite future. I think Yankee ingenuity shakes its head at plain lunacy, but that is just my opinion.
I grew up here in New England and I concur- the extremes of overdevelopment seem to have bypassed us to some extent. But I wonder if it only seems that way since we have a better sense of aesthetics here and can build in a more visually pleasing manner-
I have seen statistics documenting the selling of and eventual development of historical farmland, and what has happened here is truly no less disastrous than any other part of the nation- maybe worse in some sense because much of the land we have built on here is fertile as opposed to the scrub and desert being consumed in the southwest...
On an off-topic point, I had a post deleted here wherein I made a defensive post in response to some blatantly anti-American crap about how wasteful our bathroom habits are- if we are not allowed to criticize European lifestyles here, there should be a warning posted somewhere. Don't tell me it was because I used the word "shit" in the context of defecating, because I have seen others use that term and worse here in posts which have been allowed to persist. The moderators' apparent hero Kuntsler constantly uses worse language and is seen as a hero around here- is it too much to hope for impartial moderation?
I don't recall the post you are talking about, and I don't think I deleted it. Mostly I delete duplicates and spam.
However, I would like to ask you and everyone else not to use vulgar language. Such words can get sites blocked by the filters used as schools, offices, and libraries.
New England is grossly overdeveloped. While we do have some good agricultural land, were it all in production it would produce nowhere near what we consume. Thinking that we are somehow better because we are not as bad is silly.
Our economy is way bigger than our environment; that only works for now because we depend on distant resources and sinks.
cfm in Gray, ME
Interesting question: Would Americans considered "normal" in a US cultural contect be considered to be suffering from a personality disorder were they to be living in a different country? Is the normal American really a psychopath?
I think coming to the US from another culture - one that is supposedly so close to the US - it is quite shocking the sort of behaviour considered normal and acceptable here.
But the thing I think is most apparent - and with all the usual caveats about the non-validity of generalizations on an individual case-by-case basis, while still finding them useful as a marker - is the psychological framework in which most Americans live their lives.
I don't think psychopath nails it - the way I've always described it to friends (in a way that captures both the positives and the negatives) is that Americans seem to mature/grow up to about a sort of early-to-mid teens level but seem to sort of freeze there... and live the rest of their lives as a teenager... compared to Europe - less so my native UK but certainly most other parts of Europe - let's face it, is there anyone more grown up than the Germans or the Scandinavians? :-)
I know some people may be offended by that - but of course not EVERYONE is exactly the same... but it is certainly a trend I have noticed...
--
When no-one around you understands
start your own revolution
and cut out the middle man
According to the DSM psychopaths are no more:
"Antisocial personality disorder (APD) is a personality disorder which is often characterised by antisocial and impulsive behaviour. APD is generally (if controversially) considered to be the same as, or similar to, the disorder that was previously known as psychopathic or sociopathic personality disorder. Approximately 3% of men and 1% of women have some form of antisocial personality disorder (source: DSM-IV)." From Google.
APD is the new normal...I mean, old psychopath...
I have been thinking about writing an article about this for one of our local news sites - Australia has a similar kind of social shift.
It has been noted that antisocial personality disorder (see john maklin's entry - also not sociopathy is another synonym) is indistiguishable from the personality of a teenager except for one criterion in the DSMIV for APD: the individual must be above 18 years of age.
So ResponsibleAccountable's comment that "Americans seem to mature/grow up to about a sort of early-to-mid teens level but seem to sort of freeze there," which is something that I've noticed in Australia too is entirely consistent with the culture being sociopathic.
Quite a lot of commentators have noted the increasing extended adolescence in Australia, and I imagine it's pretty similar in the US - characters that support this are: leisure orientation, consumerism and increased debt. The social consequences of this are, among other things: lack of concern for others and undirected rage (any one here ever had to deal with a road rager?).
Hi GZ. Questioning the status quo is forbidden. Did you not receive the memo?
Seriously though, we are not educated (in general) to question authority or ourselves. That is disturbing. Education in our society seems to revolve around stuffing your head with "facts".
"You can never solve a problem on the level on which it was created."
Albert Einstein
Americans are not exposed to logic or epistomology until college if then. The ability to reason, I believe, is intentionally neglected. The 1960's taught TPTB alot, with regards to what an educated(thinking and questioning) underclass can mean. I doubt they will make that mistake again. The current propaganda against the Baby Boom generation we occasionally hear on this site is probably intended to isolate them from the younger generation to prevent 'contamination'.
You see that sounds plausible until you think it through and realise that the Baby Boom generation is the one that voted for the bozos that created the crappy education system we have today...
...as I think goes unrecognized, not every boomer was walking civil rights marches, protesting Vietnam, grooving to the new pop music or smoking weed... those are just the more colorful images by which the generation chooses to define itself... an awful lot of them must have voted for Reagan & Bush...
...and no that isn't boomer hating - just pointing out that just as there is valid criticism of lumping the Boomers all together in bad ways it is certainly invalid to paint them all in pretty colours
--
When no-one around you understands
start your own revolution
and cut out the middle man
Cid: What birth years would you place in the baby boom generation category? Wikipedia has it from 1946 to 1960. Would you agree? What is TPTB?
TPTB - The Powers That Be
I would say those years are pretty close although many of the icons were born earlier.(Bob Dylan is a good example) I have younger sisters, twins born in 1960. One I would place clearly in the earlier generation while the other went Yuppie all the way, so the dates aren't hard and fast. I would say the division is best defined by politics. The Boomer Generation was a time when most were liberal and consevatives were at a definite Nadir. A good example is that, while I was at college in the early 70's, the office of the Young Republicans or whatever they called themselves was relegated to a closet. There just were'nt many of them and they were looked at as aberant. This shifted for those who attended college in the 80's as Reagan took office and the balance shifted towards more who considered themselves conservatives and aspired to a 'Yuppie' lifestyle. You can clearly see where the number of liberals on college campuses began to rise in the early 60's reaching a peak in the early 70s and their decline by the early 80's.
PS - My father's generation(he was born in 1932), saw a Conservative peak when he was 20 in 1952. He's as Republican as you can get. Did we get another Conservative peak in 1992? If so we could see another Liberal peak in 2012 if the cycle holds.
Cid
Your point;
Americans are not exposed to logic or epistomology until college if then. The ability to reason, I believe, is intentionally neglected. The 1960's taught TPTB alot, with regards to what an educated(thinking and questioning) underclass can mean. I doubt they will make that mistake again.
I think after the 60-70's marches in the street, etc TPTB said "Never again".
They won't see body bags on the nightly news, if there is a demonstation, you won't see it on TV, and by golly, that's how it is.
Your point was actually verified by G.Gordon Liddy when talking to Timothy Leary. (Yes they actually debated once and Joe Bageant was there to record it)
Listen to Gordon's retort back to Leary.
THAT'S when the start of the control of all media to a few companies became an objective of the people who Liddy was talking about, The people HE always wanted to protect.
Ghosts of Tim Leary and Hunter Thompson
http://www.joebageant.com/joe/2007/05/ghosts_of_tim_l.html