"Freedom is the sure possession of those alone
who have the courage to defend it."~Pericles
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Posted on 05/13/2014 3:28:27 AM PDT by John W
Early morning, on cold/wet days, they make suitable walking tracks.
“I am astonished at their blindness.”
I think it is most obvious to people raised in a middle class environment years ago; people who had little before are less impacted by having little now.
“I’ve often considered government as creating jobs which provide a middle class lifestyle for otherwise unemployable people.”
In the past it was more of a place to start off rather than a place to park for 40 years. It never provided the upper middle class living that it does now. One of our local kindergarten teachers makes (I won’t say “earns”) about $85K annually; she is in her mid-40s, probably got a masters to drive up the salary (due to union work rules, not because it improves performance), and has a “teachers aide” (WTH is that? We never had them). She works 180 days per year, from 8:30 to 3:00; could you imagine what she will cost in even five more years?
American taxpayers in my area have had enough, and are fleeing NJ in droves. Some are stuck in homes due to their mortgages, but the total absence of non-government-employed young white people would shock you. Governor Christie has slowed the death spiral, but it is definitely still a death spiral which is irreversible without mass layoffs (of which we’ve had some, but not nearly enough). Those laid-off government workers (in all sectors) have no marketable skills at all, and are shocked at what their employers (us) have been dealing with for decades in the job market.
Interesting. I really wish that credit cards would implement some sort of two-part verification.
We have had our credit card information stolen, but it was from Target (last year) & Michaels (few years ago). And another time when we don’t know how it was stolen. Got a phone call from the CC company on Christmas Day to ask if we were purchasing hotel accommodations in England or Dubai. Um, no.
We do shop locally. We own farm shares in two local farms, and buy household items, clothing, and gifts from local craftsmen and artists. We choose to eat in local restaurants first, then locally owned chains, then everywhere else.
We’re doing our best to spend what money we can locally.
In the 70’s and 80’s I remember buying almost all my tools and lawn care products there. The sales people were the rudest most ornery people I have ever dealt with in my life! They acted like you had no place else to get the stuff and at the time they may have been right.
Here is a local story concerning Military Circle:
http://wtkr.com/2014/05/13/norfolk-authorities-looking-for-military-circle-mall-bomb-threat-suspect/
malls WERE the internet in the 80s.
kids played video games at alladins castle. went shopping there. communicated there.
yup, and if they don’t do aything real to stop it they die b/c people don’t shop at unsafe places.
I think you are correct.
What happens next is that wages rise for some less productive workers beyond what an employer has to pay for overseas workers. Those jobs get lost forever to foreign economies whose workers enjoy a lower standard of living.
As the rest of the world progresses, we will lose the ability to support a "service economy". We pump our own gas, mow our own lawns, wash our own cars, etc.
Eventually the shake out must arrive and those who were being overpaid will have to make an adjustment. Government "entitlements", such as extended unemployment, can only be afforded so long before the productive go broke trying to provide such entitlements.
"Freedom is the sure possession of those alone
who have the courage to defend it."~Pericles
Please support Free Republic
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Yes, that’s it. Nothing wrong with the location. Well, maybe a bit far from the I.
Sorry they cannot keep a cafeteria.
My mother-in-law grew up in South Dakota at the beginning of the twentieth century. Winters are long there and the people living in rural areas would do their shopping in the fall in preparation for winter.
She described that they would receive one very large shipment from Sears which would supply them with necessities and luxuries; replacement clothes for the kids, canning supplies to make the most of their gardening, candles, food staples, and anything else that could be selected through the phonebook sized Sears catalog.
Sears was the Amazon of that time and only inattention to what made them successful then has resulted in their demise now.
I'll make another observation regarding the approach of companies like Sears and Penny. These are department stores, with a shoe department, a ladies clothing department, an appliance department, and a jewelry department. What rocket scientist decided that Sears should allow themselves to be located in malls surrounded by retailers taking away their business?
Exactly, especially with the Obama war on energy, it's too expensive to drive to the mall.
Sale price was $4 million. Could not have bought the concrete for that price. Lucky seller.
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It’s all about location ... remember when Lions stadium sold just a year or two ago for $500k ... you could bulldoze the asphalt parking lot for resale to a paving company and recoup your entire purchase...
5 years ago when the mall sold, I thought the $4 million price tag was a bargain. However, now it seems like that is not the case. The economy in the city is depressed.
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