(1940's data point is interpolated.)
February 9, 1942
Time: Battle of Detroit
Something is happening that Adolf Hitler does not yet understand—a new re-enactment of the old American miracle of wheels and machinery, but on a new scale. This time it is a miracle of war production, and its miracle-worker is the automobile industry.
Even the American people do not appreciate the miracle, because it is too big for the eye to see in an hour, a day or a month. It is, in fact, too big to be described. It can only be understood by taking a sample.
May 11, 1942
Art: 75,000 Tanks, 414,000 Houses
Worst housing shortage is at Detroit. With Ford's Willow Run bomber plant nearly ready for 70,000 workers, there are virtually no houses near the plant and it is almost impossible to rent a house in Detroit, 25 miles away. Now plans are afoot for 45,000 new dwellings in the Detroit area but pipe for water lines is still lacking. And by year's end Detroit must house 190,000 more war workers.
That was then. This is now.
January 9, 2006
As GM Goes, So Goes the Country. Still Valid?
If it's still true that the country mirrors GM, we're having our collective asses handed to us on plates in the form of Toyota wheel covers. To most, that seems OK. Is it?
July 23, 2009
Feral Houses
This is just a handful of the photos I have of such places. I have dozens more (the lighting conditions were fairly similar in this selection taken over the course of three summers). Among the abandoned houses of Detroit, the lucky ones aren't burned completely or bulldozed, but allowed to be consumed by the foliage once meant to beautify them. This is something that has obviously been fascinating me lately. We might see ghosts of lives lived well within these walls, sentimentalize the structures and feel sad that they have been allowed to go wild. . .
Mere words cannot do the photos within the link justice.
Source Data:
History Detroit - Statistics - Pre-1701 - present
I think we have seen peak Detroit. I'm not sure we have seen peak oil prices in this cycle though. Bernanke is a very determined central banker. :(
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's just me, but it sure looks like steep rises in the price of oil quickly lead to higher unemployment and recessions.
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?chart_type=line&s[1][id]=OILPRICE&s[1][transformation]=log
Anyway, who am I to doubt Bernanke's wisdom? If Helicopter Ben says it's more important to preserve the value of fraudulently issued debt than it is to have affordable houses and oil then so be it.
"Something horrible" is happening. Gasoline near me dropped to $2.35/gal from $2.70/gal in the span of a few months. That trend must be stopped at ALL costs. Do you think consumers without jobs and declining net worths should be allowed to enjoy the benefits of falling fuel prices? I don't.
I really enjoyed this post Mark. How the mighty have fallen, but hey, we almost have "Dow 10,000" again so "it's all good", right?
ReplyDeleteMark,
ReplyDeleteI think this post should be taken down. You have provided the FED with a new plan to close the "output gap" and increase "manufacturing utilization"; of course all they need to do is make the US be in need of thousands of tanks and bombers, we have all the spare capacity to make such, and presto! recovery! Of course it is hard to make that kind of stuff large scale, unless you have a good reason to make it!
See what I mean! DELETE....DELETE
PS, great comments last night re Aluminum and copper, I will try and cover that tonight.
mab,
ReplyDelete"Maybe it's just me, but it sure looks like steep rises in the price of oil quickly lead to higher unemployment and recessions."
I don't think it is just you. Oil seems determined to rise faster than the stock market.
watchtower,
I turned bearish in 2004 when the DJIA was a bit over 10,000. I guess that in order to remain consistent I better be bearish right now. Hey! What do you know? I am! ;)
GYSC,
"I think this post should be taken down."
I'm not at all worried... *helicopter noises* *sounds of front door collapsing* *shots fired* .... about the economy. I think things are looking really good right now. Um, I'm suddenly very optimistic. I'm being told that... Um, I mean I think I should probably wrap this comment up and play something on my PS3 if I know what's good for me. Um, yeah, okay. Sounds good. *helicopter sounds fading*
Mark,
ReplyDeleteleft a little of our back and forth tonight on the blog.
PS,
the black helicopters have silenced rotors so they are dead quiet, just so you know.....LOL
scary times get prepared
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/ygbj9lr
This one's for you Mark, looks like a hoarders training film but I don't think he uses that bath tub much.
LOL
Kevin
Kevin,
ReplyDeleteWow! That really hits close to home. I too use a sharpie to mark dates. That could easily be me in the video. Don't know how long things can keep if you don't know when you bought them.
GYSC,
Back and forth we go, when we stop nobody knows!