The Slow Burn

S&P: US Home Price Decline Accelerates
Tuesday September 25, 10:25 am ET
By Vinnee Tong, AP Business Writer

U.S. Homes Post Steepest Price Drop in 16 Years NEW YORK (AP) -- The decline in U.S. home prices accelerated nationwide in July, posting the steepest drop in 16 years, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index released Tuesday.
Home prices have fallen by more every month since the beginning of the year.
An index of 10 U.S. cities fell 4.5 percent in July from a year ago. That was the biggest drop since July 1991.

S&P Index Committee Chairman David Blitzer said the severe declines may be done by the end of the year.

"Maybe the first stage is steep declines, and we're just about done with those," he said. "The second stage is not much gain, not much loss.

"The rest of the economy has to catch up to home prices."
Yale economist Robert Shiller, who helped create the indices, said in a statement, "The further deceleration in prices is still apparent across the majority of regions." Shiller is also MacroMarkets LLC's chief economist and perhaps is best known for predicting the dot-com bust.

A broader index of 20 cities fell 3.9 percent in July over last year, with 15 of 20 cities reporting that prices fell.

The five cities where prices are still rising -- Atlanta, Charlotte, N.C., Dallas, Portland and Seattle -- have reported growth is slowing in the past year. Atlanta and Dallas are close to moving into negative territory, S&P said.

Shiller, an economist at Yale University, told lawmakers in written comments last week that the loss of a boom mentality among consumers poses a "significant risk" of a recession within the next year.

His comments came a day after home buyers and other borrowers got some welcome news when the Federal Reserve cut a key interest rate by half a point to 4.75 percent. It was the Fed's first cut in four years.

The housing slowdown and decline in credit availability have triggered worries that the economy could go into a recession, spurring the Fed to act. Economists differ on whether the Fed will again cut rates (and kill the dollar) during two meetings before year's end.

 

Bend over....Again Mr. USD:

Fed adds $6.0 bln in temporary reserves via 14-day repo

Thu Oct 11, 2007 8:36am EDT
NEW YORK, Oct 11 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve said on Thursday it added $6.0 billion of temporary reserves to the banking system via a 14-day repurchase agreement.
Federal funds traded in the market steady at 2.0 percent after the operation amount was announced, well below the 4.75 percent target rate the Fed sets.
The Fed said collateral accepted in the operation was $6.0 billion in Treasuries. (Mandraked AGAIN!)

A total of $107.9 billion in bids were submitted for the operation.






that Buck some more, Bernanke, whore the dollar until the end!

 

The Question to the Golden Answer
"Using this printing press - or even without it, in this modern, electronic age - the feds can create all the dollars they want. But unless they know something we don't, they can't create even a single additional ounce of gold."
by Bill Bonner

"The Comeback Kids," is this week's headline at The Economist. On the cover of the latest issue is a photo of Bill and Hillary Clinton…arm in arm…
"Will Hillary be our next president?" we asked a friend who thinks about this sort of thing.
"Yes, most likely," came the answer. "People don't really like her…but those Clinton years are looking better and better. And they think that by voting for Hillary, they'll get Bill Clinton. And with Bill will come the Clinton years again. No subprime debt problem. No housing slump. No war in Iraq."

In other words, when the comeback kids come back, peace and prosperity come back with them.

Yesterday brought news of comebacks. For example, it almost looked as though the dollar was coming back. Anyway, that was how the financial media described Monday's bouncing buck.
But wait…it still takes more than $1.40 to buy a pound (GBP). And the yen (JPY) is still trading over 118. And the Australian currency (AUD) just hit a 23-year high against the dollar. So, reports of the dollar's health may be exaggerated.

Still, oil fell below $80. And gold lost ground too, when measured against the kind of money you don't have to dig out of the earth.

(Incidentally, Byron King, over at Outstanding Investments, has discovered a way to get gold out of the ground - and into your hands - for just a penny per ounce. Many a long suffering DR reader have taken advantage of this unique opportunity…why don't you take advantage of gold's slight decline and join them? But act fast - you only have until October 23rd…
Make 4 Times Your Money - Even if Gold Doesn't Budge

We are still fascinated by the simple observation that the surest bet you could have made 35 years ago was also the most obvious one. When the dollar was cut loose from gold on August 15, 1971, that gold would rise and the dollar would fall was as certain as anything you ever get in the financial world.

"We have a little technology…the printing press…" says Ben Bernanke. Using this printing press - or even without it, in this modern, electronic age - the feds can create all the dollars they want. But unless they know something we don't, they can't create even a single additional ounce of gold.

"Gold is the answer," we keep saying.
The only trouble is: we haven't quite figured out what the question is.
What will be higher next year? Gold? We don't know…
What is the safest place for your money? Gold? We don't know…
What starts with a G and ends with a D and rhymes with 'old'? Ah, there…
The Clinton Years look like golden years in many ways. Not because of anything the Clintons did. They came in at the tail end of a huge boom - and managed to avoid messing it up.
The boom had begun during the Reagan Administration, after Paul Volcker got control of inflation. Then, interest rates could fall for the next 20 years. Cheaper, more abundant credit had the usual effect; cautiously at first…then recklessly…people threw money around. The U.S. economy boomed. Stocks rose 12 times - so much that people sold their gold to get in on it. Even the central banks sold gold. The yellow metal was out of fashion.
Lately - say, for the last seven years - gold, too, has been making a comeback. It's come back almost all the way to where it was in January…when Ronald Reagan first took the presidential oath.

Now what? What will it be? Another 'golden era' when the Clintons come back? A final, inflationary blowout bubble in the world's markets? Or the comeback of tougher times…like the stagflation of the pre-Volcker years?

The big question is probably this: can the Fed now save stocks, housing and the economy by destroying the dollar?

Gold is probably the answer to at least one of those questions.

 

Not Just a Speculator's PlaythingThe Daily Reckoning
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Friday, October 12, 2007
---------------------
*** Moving to Argentina for more than the tango…a long-running show north of the Rio Grande…dollars from sweat and thin air look the same…
*** Voters and politicians making each other happy…Zimbabwe inflation greatly under-exaggerated…
*** A new beast in the housing market…the lax lending and subprime persuasion…and more!
---------------------
It's the end of the world as we know it…and we feel fine!
India is booming. China is booming. The latest news from the Middle Kingdom tells us that its trade surplus is rising at a 56% annual rate.
Heck, even Argentina is booming. Its economy has been growing about three times faster than the U.S. model for the last five years.
Yesterday, your editor and his old friend Doug Casey were invited to lunch at the American Club in downtown Buenos Aires. Our hosts were mostly men who have been living and doing business in Argentina for decades. They've seen it all - corruption, hyperinflation, defaults, chaos, riots, depression…you name it. "What's the real story down here?" we wanted to know.
"I wish I could tell you," said one gentleman from Texas. "I've been down here for more than 30 years…and I don't know what's going on. Nobody does."
"I work in the government," said another young man. "And I can tell you, they don't have any idea. It is an incredible, unbelievable mess. Everything is spin…not substance."
"Hey…how's that any different from the United States?" asked Doug.
Many people come to Argentina for the tango or the beef or the property values. We come to have a look at the future. Whatever drama lies ahead for the United States of America…we have a feeling it has rehearsed down here on the pampas.
You can join our friends at Agora Travel and come to Argentina for all of the above. On the tour, which takes place November 3-16, you will get a taste of the amazing real estate opportunities available in Argentina, as well as some wine tastings, antique hunting and exploring.
But act fast - there is only room for 16 on the private, chartered plane - and stops are filling up!
Explore Argentina - November 3-16
Yesterday, the Dow went down a bit. But it could still be in a bullish phase. The index is still near an all-time high. And even the homebuilders look as though they may be bottoming out. Not that it particularly matters to us. Even if stocks continue to rise in nominal terms, it is of no interest - because they are too expensive to be good investments. And what we care about is real value, not just the numbers that follow a dollar sign.
In real terms, the Dow has been cut in half since 2000. You used to be able to sell all your Dow stocks and buy more than 40 ounces of gold. Now, sell them and you get only enough money to buy 18 ounces.
No, dear reader, the Dow is a fake-out…a sideshow…a distraction. The real drama is in the dollar itself. And the real excitement is in the gold market. Yesterday, gold rose more than $10 - to a new high for this cycle…at $758.
Oil rose to almost $83 yesterday, too. And the dollar fell to less than $1.42/euro (EUR).
The falling dollar is not just a speculator's plaything. It is the dollar in which almost all Americans' hopes and dreams are calibrated. If a house is worth 300,000 dollars…those 300,000 pieces of paper may represent a lifetime's worth of past effort…and it may also represent hope for future repose. Pensions, insurance plans, stock portfolios, bonds…everything we earn and everything we spend - it's almost all in dollars.
As we pointed out yesterday, the dirty little secret of America's advanced capitalism is that it socializes much of the risk…and most of the losses. The big banks…big financial houses…or even the little householders…get in trouble and the government rushes to their aid. "Here, have some more money," says the Fed.
Where does that money come from? It's a long story…but it's not a new story. It's a story that was played out in ancient Rome…in 18th century France…in 20th century Germany…and now is a long-running show north of the Rio Grande.
In effect, and often literally, central bankers create the money - as Keynes put it - "out of thin air." No harm in that, you say; it's got to come from somewhere. Except, this new money competes with all the old money that people worked so long and hard to accumulate. As you will see, below, neither an economy nor a person can tell the difference between a dollar that came from the sweat of one's brow and one that came out of thin air. The result is to increase the overall supply of dollars and reduce the value of each and every one of them. That is the phenomenon we know as "inflation."
The consequences of inflation are well known. So is its source. Everyone knows, in other words, who gets killed and who fires the gun. What we add today is just an incriminating detail - the motive.
Why would the U.S. central bank want to create inflation? Blame Congress…the politicians always want to spend more money than they can raise in taxes. They make the difference up by borrowing…and then the loans need to be refinanced…and more loans added…and the whole thing just goes down a lot more easily if there's a little extra money floating around.
Or, blame consumers. They spend money they don't have on things they don't need. Who do they think they are, members of Congress? They, too, are a lot happier when the money is flowing. And, when the voters are happy, the politicians are happy…and when the politicians are happy, they don't put a lot of difficult questions to their central bankers…so the central bankers are happy too. Let's face it; everyone is happier when there is a little inflation in the system. Economists even came to believe that inflation helped boost employment…and that it encouraged consumers to spend…and that it actually helped created a more dynamic, more robust economy. So, you see, dear reader, even economists are happier with a little whiff of inflation in the air. And if you can make economists happy…aren't you doing God a service?
Okay…now we're getting to the deep, dark heart of the matter. Blame God. God created man. And man likes a little inflation. A little extra money makes people feel like they are getting something for nothing. Who doesn't like that?
But God didn't stop there. He made man. And man likes to get something for nothing. But God made sure there was a worm in this apple. "Something for nothing" always comes at a high price. If the dollar had merely retained its value since 2002 and all else remained even, Americans would have about $10 trillion more of purchasing power today. Instead, they are getting used to foreigners coming in, buying their assets and telling them how cheap everything is. Yes, things are cheap to foreigners; they have real money. But things are not cheap to Americans.
The crisis of 2001-2002 reduced Argentines' wealth by nearly two-thirds. All of a sudden, if they took a trip to Europe, for example, they found they had only a third as much money as they had had before. Foreigners were coming into the country to buy apartments and farms…the Argentines themselves didn't have the money to compete with them. Argentina's rich were fine. They had always kept their money in Miami or Switzerland. They had assets outside of the country. They had sources of revenue and ways to protect them. But the middle classes had their money in pesos. They earned their money in pesos. They counted on the value of their peso-pensions…and their houses…and their savings. But when the crisis came…their money disappeared. Argentina's middle classes were practically wiped out.
Argentina? Look at Zimbabwe, says old friend Marc Faber. The story is the same, but it is more entertaining. And it is still in the hyper-farce stage. Inflation is officially running at about 7,000% per year. But unofficial estimates say the rate for this year will turn out to be more like 100,000%. Marc visited Zimbabwe recently. He says he went out to buy a bottle of orange squash on Monday; it was 120,000 Zim dollars. On Tuesday, the price had gone up to 180,000. And by Friday, it was at 600,000.
This would seem all very funny, but currencies mean something to ordinary people. At the margin, they can make the difference between life and death. Thanks to Robert Mugabe's financial management, the average man in Zimbabwe can expect to drop dead at the age of 37. As recently as 1990, he could have looked forward to 60. While life expectancy plummeted, so did job expectancy. The average guy has only a 50/50 chance of finding work.
But here's the kind of detail that gives us hope for the future. We may not survive it, but at least it will be amusing. It's apparently the Africans' turn to head the UN Commission on Sustainable Development. Naturally, they turn to a country that has found a way to sustain un-development - Zimbabwe. The country has been going downhill ever since they kicked Ian Smith out of office in 1979.
(Ian Smith is still alive, we believe. He is living in Cape Town, South Africa. Perhaps he should be called back to service…like Churchill in WWII…or Petain.)
The man given the post of heading up the commission on sustainable development is named Francis Nhema, a crony of Robert Mugabe. His personal contribution to sustainable development is that when he was given one of the farms stolen from white farmers, he let it go to rack and ruin.
Enjoy your weekend,
Bill Bonner
The Daily Reckoning
Moving on to today's guest essay…

 

Southern Calif. home sales plunge 30 pct in Sept

Tue Oct 16, 2007 3:33pm EDT
By Jim Christie
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Sales of houses and condominiums in the most populous Southern California counties fell 29.9 percent from the previous month and 48.5 percent from a year earlier, DataQuick Information Systems said on Tuesday.
The report covers the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura and showed a total of 12,455 new and existing homes and condos sold in September, the lowest since the company began recording the data in 1988.

 

I don't care how far the prices fall, I am NOT relocating to kali for retirement.

 

Foreclosure Filings Soar in 3rd Quarter
Thursday November 1, 5:34 am ET
By Alex Veiga, AP Business Writer

Number of US Homes Facing Foreclosure Doubles in Third Quarter LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A soaring number of U.S. homeowners struggled to make mortgage payments in the third quarter, with properties in some stage of foreclosure more than doubling from the same time last year, a mortgage data company said Thursday.A total of 446,726 homes nationwide were targeted by some sort of foreclosure activity from July to September, up 100.1 percent from 223,233 properties in the year-ago period, according to Irvine-based RealtyTrac Inc.

The current figure was 33.9 percent higher than the 333,731 properties in foreclosure in the second quarter of this year.
There was one foreclosure filing for every 196 households in the nation during the most recent quarter, RealtyTrac said.

All but five states reported a year-over-year increase in foreclosure filings, which include notices of default, auction sale notices or bank repossessions, the company said.

A single property can sometimes receive more than one notice in a three-month period.
In all, 635,159 filings were reported in the third quarter, up 99.5 percent from the year-ago quarter and up 30 percent from the second quarter of this year.
RealtyTrac CEO James J. Saccacio said in a statement that August and September accounted for the highest monthly totals since the company began issuing foreclosure filing reports in January 2005.

"Given the number of loans due to reset through the middle of 2008, and the continuing weakness in home sales, we would expect foreclosure activity to remain high and even increase over the next year in many markets," he said.
Mortgage lenders are bracing for a flood of defaults as many adjustable-rate mortgages originated in 2005 and 2006 during the height of the housing market frenzy reset to higher interest rates.

The loans were initially attractive options for buyers because of their cheaper "teaser" interest rates that kept monthly payments low, but even a small percentage increase can translate into a far higher payment.

With home sales in decline and prices down or flat in many regions, more homeowners are landing in foreclosure because they can't afford to sell their homes after falling behind on payments.

The three states with the highest foreclosure rates during the third quarter were Nevada, California and Florida, RealtyTrac said.

Nevada reported one foreclosure filing for every 61 households, with 16,817 filings on 12,982 properties.

That marked a 22.8 percent increase in filings from the previous quarter and a tripling from the year-ago quarter.

California led the nation in total foreclosure filings and reported one filing for every 88 households.

The state had 148,147 filings on 94,772 properties, an increase in filings of 36 percent from the previous quarter and nearly four times more than the year-ago period.
In Florida, there were 86,465 foreclosure filings on 60,992 properties during the third quarter, RealtyTrac said. Foreclosure filings rose 51.5 percent from the previous quarter and more than doubled from the same quarter last year.
Florida's foreclosure rate amounted to one filing for every 95 households, RealtyTrac said.
Rounding out the top 10 states in foreclosure rates were Michigan, Ohio, Colorado, Arizona, Georgia, Indiana and Texas.

 

Interesting essay called "the Slow Crash"

Imagine the end of the world in moderation. It's hard. We tend to imagine that either the "economy" will recover and we'll go on like 1999 forever, plus flying cars, or else one day "the apocalypse happens" and every component of the industrial system is utterly gone.

http://ranprieur.com/essays/slowcrash.html

 

I hate to bump this thread but it's here...

Middle Class Extinction: 9 Of The Top 10 Occupations In US Pay An Average Of Less Than $35k A Year

Via SilverDoctors | Restoring Your Financial Health Source: The Doc from SilverDoctors.com, April 4, 2014 at 4:00:32 PDT


When you break that down, that means that most of these workers are making less than $3,000 a month before taxes. And once you consider how we are being taxed into oblivion, things become even more frightening. Can you pay a mortgage and support a family on just a couple grand a month? Of course not. In the old days, a single income would enable a family to live a very comfortable middle class lifestyle in most cases. But now those days are long gone.You can’t have a middle class without middle class jobs, and we have witnessed a multi-decade decline in middle class jobs in the United States. As long as this trend continues, the middle class is going to continue to collapse.

From The Economic Collapse Blog:

In 2014, both parents are expected to work, and in many cases both of them have to get multiple jobs just in order to break even at the end of the month. The decline in the quality of our jobs is a huge reason for the implosion of the middle class in this country.

The following is a list of the most commonly held jobs in America according to the federal government. As you can see, 9 of the top 10 most commonly held occupations pay an average wage of less than $35,000 a year…

1. Retail salespersons, 4.48 million workers earning $25,370
2. Cashiers 3.34 million workers earning $20,420
3. Food prep and serving staff, 3.02 million workers earning $18,880
4. General office clerk, 2.83 million working earning $29,990
5. Registered nurses, 2.66 million workers earning $68,910
6. Waiters and waitresses, 2.40 million workers earning$20,880
7. Customer service representatives, 2.39 million workers earning $33,370
8. Laborers, and freight and material movers, 2.28 million workers earning $26,690
9. Secretaries and admins (not legal or medical), 2.16 million workers earning $34,000
10. Janitors and cleaners (not maids), 2.10 million workers earning, $25,140

Overall, an astounding 59 percent of all American workers bring home less than $35,000 a year in wages.

So if you are going to make more than $35,000 this year, you are solidly in the upper half.

But that doesn’t mean that you will always be there.

More Americans are falling out of the middle class with each passing day.

Just consider the case of a 47-year-old woman named Kristina Feldotte. Together with her husband, they used to make about $80,000 a year. But since she lost her job three years ago, their combined income has fallen to about $36,000 a year…

Three years ago, Kristina Feldotte, 47, and her husband earned a combined $80,000. She considered herself solidly middle class. The couple and their four children regularly vacationed at a lake near their home in Saginaw, Michigan.

But in August 2012, Feldotte was laid off from her job as a special education teacher. She’s since managed to find only part-time teaching work. Though her husband still works as a truck salesman, their income has sunk by more than half to $36,000.

“Now we’re on the upper end of lower class,” Feldotte said.

There is a common assumption out there that if you “have a job” that you must be doing “okay”.

But that is not even close to the truth.

The reality of the matter is that you can even have two or three jobs and still be living in poverty. In fact, you can even be working for the government or the military and still need food stamps…

Since the start of the Recession, the dollar amount of food stamps used at military commissaries, special stores that can be used by active-duty, retired, and some veterans of the armed forces has quadrupled, hitting $103 million last year. Food banks around the country have also reported a rise in the number of military families they serve, numbers that swelled during the Recession and haven’t, or have barely, abated.

There are so many people that are really hurting out there.

Today, someone wrote to me about one of my recent articles about food price increases and told me about how produce prices were going through the roof in that particular area. This individual wondered how ordinary families were going to be able to survive in this environment.

That is a very good question.

I don’t know how they are going to survive.

In some cases, the suffering that is going on behind closed doors is far greater than any of us would ever imagine.

And often, it is children that suffer the most…

A Texas couple kept their bruised, malnourished 5-year-old son in a diaper and locked in a closet of their Spring home, police said in a horrifying case of abuse.

The tiny, blond-haired boy was severely underweight,his shoulder blades, ribs and vertebrae showing through his skin, when officers found him late last week.

You can see some photos of that poor little boy right here.

I hope that those abusive parents are put away for a very long time.

Sadly, there are lots of kids that are really suffering right now. There are more than a million homeless schoolchildren in America, and there are countless numbers that will go to bed hungry tonight.

But if you live in wealthy enclaves on the east or west coasts, all of this may sound truly bizarre to you. Where you live, you may look around and not see any poverty at all. That is because America has become increasingly segregated by wealth. Some are even calling this the “skyboxification of America”…

The richest Americans—the much-talked about 1 percent—are a cloistered class. As the Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz scathingly put it, they “have the best houses, the best educations, the best doctors, and the best lifestyles, but there is one thing that money doesn’t seem to have bought: an understanding that their fate is bound up with how the other 99 percent live.” The Harvard political philosopher Michael Sandel has similarly lamentedthe “skyboxification” of American life, in which “people of affluence and people of modest means lead increasingly separate lives.”

The substantial and growing gap between the rich and everyone else is increasingly inscribed on our geography. There have always been affluent neighborhoods, gated enclaves, and fabled bastions of wealth like Greenwich, Connecticut; Grosse Pointe, Michigan; Potomac, Maryland; and Beverly Hills, California. But America’s bankers, lawyers, and doctors didn’t always live so far apart from teachers, accountants, and small business owners, who themselves weren’t always so segregated from the poorest, most struggling Americans.

Nobody should talk about an “economic recovery” until the middle class starts growing again.

Even as the stock market has soared to unprecedented heights over the past year, the decline of middle class America has continued unabated.

And most Americans know deep inside that something is deeply broken. For example, a recent CNBC All-America Economic Survey found that over 80 percent of all Americans consider the economy to be “fair” or “poor”.

Yes, for the moment things are going quite well for the top 10 percent of the nation, but that won’t last long either. None of the problems that caused the last great financial crisis have been fixed. In fact, they have gotten even worse. We are steamrolling toward another great financial crisis and our leaders are absolutely clueless.

When the next crisis strikes, the economic suffering in this nation is going to get even worse.

As bad as things are now, they are not even worth comparing to what is coming.

So I hope that you are getting prepared. Time is running out.


This article, Middle Class Extinction: 9 Of The Top 10 Occupations In US Pay An Average Of Less Than $35k A Year, is syndicated from www.silverdoctors.com and is posted here with permission.

​

 

A sobering reminder of the state of the nation and its people. Good jobs are hard to find today for people in general and even harder for those of the younger generations. Many graduate college and can not find employment... leaving many to live at home with their folks till their 30's. Most burdened with high college debt because they were trained to think you had to do it, by a system that fails to teach kids how the world ticks, let alone educate them with useful life skills. Kids in high school can not even find the simple entry level jobs, because the adults are sucking up those positions working two or three jobs to make ends meet.

The revolving door of empty nesters having their kids move back in, is just another symptom of a struggling economy. I know personally as two of our kids have come back through, for a period, over the last three years due to financial issues and lack of work.... both in their late 20's. The immediate impact to our budget alone, was at least a doubling of our bills (food, power, water, ect).

A good reminder to become as self-sustainable as you and the family can be under your specific situation. Get out of debt, start a garden, prepare food stores through canning and so on, learn skills you can barter with..... better prepare for the coming clouds.

 

True enough YD... However if you look at the Degrees, that these unEmployed youngsters are getting, they are many times in Liberal Arts, and not where the Good Jobs are, in Engineering, Medical, Law, the basic Sciences. There are only so many LIBRARIAN Jobs, Business, and Marketing Jobs being created these days. Now a Graduate Registered Nurse, gets pretty Good Money, after a year or two of Hospital experience, and the same is true for an Associate LawDog, even in a big Firm. Mechanical, Civil, Structural, Electrical & Manufacturing Engineers do well after an Internship, and really well, if the get a PE License, after 5 Years. Not a lot of jobs out there for Art, & Music, Appreciation Degrees, once you get passed over for teaching. Heck, a Good Welder/Fabricator makes more than most Liberal Arts Graduates, and has a lot less trouble, finding a Job. The same is true for a Good Diesel Mechanic... No shortage of work for them, and the North Dakota Oil Patch is Screaming for them, these days... ......

 

You are absolutely correct BT......

 

I've suggested skilled trade instead of college to many over the past few years. Most don't listen and are now working as one of the nine in the list but with student loans.

 

Plumbers, electricians, sheet metal & iron workers all make great coin.....
I always tell teens to look towards vo-tech or going straight towards the trades if they are interested in working. The base for our electricians is around $38 per hr. right now plus beni's, on the union side....