Now, I don't know where the money is coming from, and clearly the auto workers, Delphi, NCR, and so on, can't be supporting this. WPAFB hasn't expanded. Not one big new business has come into the region---but people sure act like they have money.
Go to a mall and watch people. They are eating at the food court or doing free reading at Barnes and Nobles. Buying a coffee (not a latte). It’s cheap entertainment while not really buying anything substantial. And staying away from the expensive entertainments (going to Cabo, Vegas, etc.) that they used to do. A lot of empty hands at those malls, mirroring the number of shuttered stores.
Maybe you live in an enclave of crooks. My younger brother told me about someone he knew who was approached by a buyer who wanted a hundred acres of land in South Carolina for a homesite. The man had no intentions of selling and told the person that. The response was to the effect that everything is for sale at some price, “Just tell me what you will take for it, if the Democrats go into office I will have more money than I can spend anyway”. After some thought the man called the buyer back with an asking price that he thought no sane person would pay. The buyer said I’ll get back to you and LATER THE SAME DAY called back to arrange for a meeting with an attorney to do the closing. After that the same buyer approached the brother of the man he had bought the hundred acres from and asked to buy forty acres adjoining the hundred acres. The same thing happened, an outrageous price was paid for the forty acres. The buyer apparently came from Charlotte, NC and had very much an “easy come, easy go” attitude about money. You can be sure that a lot of people are getting rich from corrupt dealings now, the country is being raided and only those with connections are benefitting.
++++ Now, I don’t know where the money is coming from...++++
1. Retirees.
2. Those that still have a job.
3. Food stamps.
4. Public employees...and plenty of them.