Foreclosures, Repos and chicken parts announcements in an upper middle class suburb-- swing state

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We are seeing record foreclosures and car repos (recently, I am seeing tow trucks at night... I don't think cars are breaking down). My county has 87% college graduates. You mean, you go to college and get a "good job" and you can't make ends meet? Not all the houses are luxury houses going up for foreclosure and not all of it has been "creative financing". We had a bunch of people move in from NYC. Some of real estate agents had been asking for 20% down during the boom...So not all of it is bubble madness and the minimum credit score to get a loan has been 620... higher than CA, NV, and states with really high foreclosures. On the other hand, there are some McMansions/luxury townhouses that have been sitting for over 1 year. A Toll Brothers development in a prime area has been going on for over 2 years -- still not complete; another less expensive one, has only built several houses and not all of them are occupied. This morning there was a public service announcement by the USDA about reporting people who are peddling illegal bird and poultry...(are our chicken now coming from China? or are people adultering our chickens... WTF is going on with our food?). We have a lot of farms here. Note to self -- go buy chickens from our local farms, even though they are a lot more expensive.

I moved here at the end of 2002... there were a lot of luxury cars and SUVs. Now there are a whole lot of Prius, Camry, Honda Civics. A lot of people are biking or walking into our small town. A lot of people are hanging out on the street. I am starting to notice some people are pre-partying before they hit the bar. The coffeeshops/ice cream places are doing good business... lots of folks just hanging out around these places. A lot of kids on the street at night and on the weekends... not at the malls. The kids aren't partying like they used to. My neighbor used to smell marijuana in our little common area. Not no more. We used to find empty beer bottles -- the good stuff, like Corona -- in our backyard pine trees. Not no more. Talked to our lifeguard about this, he's a recent grad with a degree in teaching. He said college crowd is drinking the nasty stuff -- not bud or Schlitz. Girls are drinking cheap vodka. He said, when he drinks Sam Adams, he sips it...

I see the elderly walking over to the Pharmacy to get their prescriptions. In 90+ degree heat, people have been driving around with their windows open. People are doing the speed limit. People aren't filling the shopping carts in the grocery stores like they used to. At meal times and on Saturday mornings, there used to be long lines in the grocery stores. Not no more. You see some grim people shopping with their eyes on the lists.

My husband is complaining that people are bumping into him as he is walking or cutting in front of him as he's driving...people aren't paying attention...their minds are somewhere else.

We are a swing county in a swing state. McCain was here a few weeks ago. Got reported in the paper but that's it. (It's interesting that the town that McCain spoke at had a large number of foreclosures). There are no McCain offices in the county. No regular McCain events. No McCain bumper stickers or signs. Nada. In '04, there was a reasonable number of Bush bumper stickers. I don't see THOSE stickers anymore. I do see Obama stickers and Obama signs :) and there is a very active Obama campaign here... I will be going to the upper portion of the county (traditionally Republican territory) later today for a doctor's appointment. I will let you know if I see anything up there.

I love my home but it's getting freaky deaky.... I hate to see what's happening in less affluent neighborhoods. I got a real bad feeling around here. I. Am. Waiting. For. The. Other. Shoe. To. Drop.