I’m sick of it. This country has been crying in its beer for far too long. Sure, we are going into debt. Sure, a lot of us lost half our net worth as our 401(k)s became 200.5(k)s and our houses were foreclosed on. But heck, 10% unemployment means that 90% of us get up and go to work and make things happen.
The basic fact of business is that booms turn to busts, and busts to booms, just as assuredly as autumn turns to winter, and winter into spring.
So, here are three reasons to be happy:
#1. Jobless claims fell.
According to the Labor Department by way of Bloomberg:
The number of Americans filing first-time claims for jobless benefits fell unexpectedly last week, a sign the labor market is deteriorating at a slower pace as the economy pulls out of the recession.
Applications dropped by 12,000 to 545,000 in the week ended Sept. 12, from a revised 557,000 the week before, Labor Department data showed today in Washington. The total number of people collecting unemployment insurance rose the prior week, to 6.23 million.
The Obama people have been poor-mouthing the economy for more than a year now. This “I feel your pain” empathy garbage does no one any good. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the job market is picking up. I’m starting to hear about friends and relatives picking up nice jobs at higher wages – especially in tech, government and healthcare.
#2. The joys of renting
The downside of a real estate bubble is that you lose your house, the bank loses its investment, and you can’t get a loan for seven years. The good news is you can still put a roof over your head. It’s called renting. And as more people become renters, apartment construction is going up.
According to Yahoo Finance:
Housing construction rose in August to the highest level in nine months as a big surge in apartment building offset a decline in single-family activity.
The August performance was another sign that the nation's housing industry has begun to recover from its worst downturn in decades.
The Commerce Department said Thursday that construction of new homes and apartments rose 1.5 percent to an annual rate of 598,000 units last month. That is slightly lower than the 600,000-unit pace that economists had forecast.
The increase pushed building activity to the highest level since last November and left home construction 24.8 percent above the record low hit back in April.
I’ve said it before, and I will repeat, that housing won’t find a bottom until it is commonly believed that “it is better to rent than to own.”
Furthermore, we will never eclipse the 2005 highs in real-dollar terms in our lifetime. Bubbles simply do not reflate in the same asset – just ask the tulip farmers. The good news is there is money to be made from renters.
#3. We have enough clean energy to last 100 years
While everyone is scurrying around jousting at windmills and solar panels, a new horizontal drilling method has increased the known reserves of natural gas in the country by 58%. This ensures enough clean energy to fuel our power plants and transportation needs for the next 100 years.
Heck, we have so much now we are running out of places to store it.
According to The Wall Street Journal:
Natural-gas futures moved lower Thursday as traders adjusted their positions ahead of a U.S. government report on natural gas storage.
Natural gas for October delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange was trading down 9.8 cents, or 2.61%, at $3.662 a million British thermal units. The contract fell as low as $3.625/MMBtu in earlier trading.
Analysts and traders expect the data to show that natural gas storage levels grew by 76 billion cubic feet last week, according to the average of estimates in a Dow Jones Newswires Survey.
There you have it. Most of us have jobs, a place to stay and more than enough energy to keep us warm. So, stop your whining. I don’t want to hear it anymore.
Other Articles Related To This Topic:
