Driving Through Foreclosed American is No Longer a Pleasure
Driving through miles and miles of foreclosed America is no longer a pleasure – it just evokes memories of happier days. After Pennsylvania the Ohio turnpike snakes on towards Canada. The traffic is thin on the six-lane highway that was once snarling with full loads of tuck. For miles on end there is nothing in front or behind. It is a pointer to what can happen to the most important trading route of our times.
In 2006 cars and trucks made log entries of over 3 billion miles of driving through the Turnpike in Ohio. About 190 million vehicles used the Penna Turnpike till before the foreclosure crisis overtook the country.
Those living in Washington may not be aware of what is happening to the rest of the county. The capital region is akin to a glass bubble that is immune from the outside climate. Here one bed-roomed apartments that offer only the basics continued to sell at the ironically ‘low’ price of over half a million dollars. Meanwhile 2.3 million house owners were deluged with foreclosures elsewhere in the country in 2008. Robert Gibss the press secretary of President Barack Obama has aptly and realistically said that each day 10,000 Americans are being foreclosed upon or their houses are taken over by the lenders.
Washington has reason to rejoice because the election of a new President is by itself a stimulating factor to the socio-economic scene. He can provide a minimum of 9,051 jobs by making political appointments according to the last edition of United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions (Plum Book) – it being a pointer to plum government posts. The majority of these jobs are in Washington and this means there will be many new housing lease deeds, purchase of new cars together with furniture and furnishings and all that goes with upward lifestyle.
The scene on the Penna Turnpike is bad. It is worse in the western part of the county. In California (it still ranks as the 8th largest economy in the world) there is a shortage of cash. On Friday 13th February, John Chiang the de facto treasurer and ‘state controller” said, “I am trying to keep California from being the first state in US history to default.” Addressing the South Bay Association of Chambers of Commerce of California he said that if he cleared every bill, then by the close of February the state “would be in the red”.
