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179 comments on Drumbeat: November 21, 2009

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airdale on November 21, 2009 - 10:41am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

See it more and more here in the outback and a nearby medium sized city(40 miles away).

I was once involved in a venture there. About 4 acres of land very close to this city. The venture was to buy the land and set up an ISP..Internet Service Provider. I was to be the technical guru and others would provide the capital and buy they equipment.

One of the group was a previous honcho of a ISP that had just folded nearby with a huge number of subscribers and he had the list of all current subscribers.

I decided to not participate but a very good friend who I did computer work for brought the land and built a strip mall.

At first he was estatic. Now he is dying. All his renters are leaving. His business is in selling Cabinetry. He had clients even in New York and did once make enough to be a millionaire several times over.

Now cabinetry has faded. The shoe store faded. The jewerly store faded. The Doctors moved out of the dental office.

He is now selling peaches and pumpkins on his very small house lot to try to keep a cash flow of anykind.

He asked me to help him setup a Inkjet Cartridge Refill shop in an empty portion. I never responded of course.

This man is going down extremely fast. All around him are other strip malls. They are failing rapidly also. The nearby shopping mall is the biggest in this city and each time I go in more and more stalls are shuttered.

The employees stand around telling each other jokes or polishing their nails. The infrequent shopper comes in and is mobbed. To no avail.

What was forecast to occur is now occurring with an accelerating tempo and Christmas if fast approaching.

The only store in the mall thriving is one who sells cheap 'craft' items. I think the idea is to buy ready made craft junk that granny can give to the kids and try to convince them she actually crafted it herself. Really really cheap overseas trash but selling for the upcoming Elcheapo Christmas we are about to see.

I cruised that store and was looking for a Woodburning Set and some good airplanes models. All the real craft tools are very hard to find as the Chinese trinkets have taken over. No one does real crafts anymore AFAICS.

Airdale-its coming down with a vengeance IMO, right now

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NeverLNG on November 21, 2009 - 12:30pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Hasn't everyone just gone to WalMart to "shop"?

In my area there is excited, titillating speculation that a WalMart is coming. And to hear the people talk -- even those who run small businesses and will be sunk if they aren't already, you would think it was the Second Coming and the Jesus of WalMart will save us all.

I see, but I don't understand.

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scooperman on November 21, 2009 - 1:43pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

ahhh, Walmart. Just walk around the store, you will be amazed...not at what they are selling, but at the shoppers. If you can't stand to go yourself, check out the "People of Walmart" website, people take cellphone camera snaps of what they see in the store and submit the photos to the site. No words can describe it adequately.

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rev karl on November 21, 2009 - 4:54pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

http://www.peopleofwalmart.com

Agreed. You can't look away...

The occasional vehicle posting also speaks volumes.

rev karl

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polytropos on November 21, 2009 - 9:29pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

iSN'T IT FUN TO MAKE FUN OF THE "PEOPLE OF WALMART"
they are americans. same as you and me.
if they look funny, we look funny. we are all the people of walmart.
did walmart do it to us, or did we do it to walmart?

Ich bein ein walmart -ist

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pi on November 22, 2009 - 2:06am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Wow! I haven`t been back to the States for 5 years and I had really forgotten how people dress, even quite huge people....so revealing. But I`m quite sure that as cars and food and incomes become scarcer people won`t be able to consume quite so much food and little by little this passing phenomenon--the huge Walmarts,the huge people, the huge cars---will become a faint memory. Probably already obesity rates in the US are plunging even as I write this.

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KLR on November 21, 2009 - 5:05pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

www.peopleofwalmart.com. Bookmarked. Have barf bag at the ready...

Great little favicon to ID the site, too:

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ericy on November 21, 2009 - 7:15pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Now I have a reason to go to Walmart...

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enemy of state on November 21, 2009 - 8:15pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Now I have a reason to go to Walmart...

As a gawkers? Or as a photographer?

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KLR on November 22, 2009 - 12:37am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Link at the bottom of the page: Submit Your Wal-Creature. Told a friend to check it out, "You'll vomit/lose your faith in humanity..."

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barrett on November 22, 2009 - 3:05am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Must be the same folks that drive up and down about five or six lanes looking for a close parking place.

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JMG3Y on November 21, 2009 - 9:02pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Forbes Intelligent Investing 11/19/09: Commercial Real Estate Will Collapse

The commercial real estate market is on its last legs and unless drastic actions are taken, the effects on the broader economy will be catastrophic. The obvious problem is the excessive amount of debt placed on the properties and the amount of debt that has to be refinanced during a relatively short period of time.

Between now and 2013, at least $1.3 trillion of financing comes due, of which $160 billion was the result of securitizations. Unfortunately, as a result of the virtual disappearance of the secondary market, the weakened condition of the banks, and the amount of debt already held by insurance companies and pension funds, even under the best of circumstances, less than half of the outstanding debt can be refinanced. This is compounded by the collapse of the commercial rental market in the last 18 months as a result of the Great Recession.

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179 comments on Drumbeat: November 21, 2009

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