Reply #35: With Blinders On: or how we got here.

[TalkingDog]

I was eating lunch at a little dog house (no, not children, hotdogs) today and at a nearby table was an older couple and their daughter. Mom and Dad are late 60's, daughter is mid 40's. And this being a very, very small town, I vaguely recognized them as being of the "well-to-do".

And they are chatting and eating and throwing around bits of gossip.

Suddenly Daughter pipes up and says: "She's got me looking at a million dollar house." My ears prick up. Around here, that's rather hard to do unless you are talking a nicely appointed house directly ON Lake Norman. Or a bigger, nicer house to the north of that (but not on the Lake)

Mom asks some question and Daughter goes on to explain how "she" wants a lap pool with this and that and knowing familial dynamics, it seems she might be talking about a teen daughter. So I lose interest for a moment until Daughter says, "We were looking in Winston (Salem) and the houses are bigger and nicer, but for less money. I can't understand that."

At this point I had to restrain myself. Take a deep breath and just sit.

I was thinking: Where the F*CK have you been for the past 2 years!? Have you opened a newspaper? Looked at a TV news report? TALKED to ANYBODY???!!!

The economy is going into the crapper all around. And I can point at half a dozen news stories easily accessed in our tiny town rag that discuss the housing market, Charlotte's leveling effect on nearby towns and Winston's economic troubles now that Big Tobacco has fled.

Can you not put 2 and 53 million together, for pity's sake? Economy Bad. In Winston, Economy even Badder. In and around Charlotte, Economy Good. People owe too much money on house, sell it quick cheap. How hard is that?

If it had been average Joe's sitting over there, I may not have batted an eye. But these people have a little bit of pocket change. How can one be that out of touch and still make the kind of money they have?

Whatever it is, I'm lining up for it. Give it to me now.