Continuing the Poetry of Nowhere series
Showing posts with label Economics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Economics. Show all posts
Zombie Economics...
Am I noticing a new trend? This is the second Toys R Us Express store I have seen spring to life in the body of a dead retail space. In this case it is the once empty Hollywood Video location in Warminster, Pa. that I have photographed several times. (see images below). There is another one in a strip mall on Roosevelt Boulevard in Northeast Philly. Obviously Toys R Us is taking advantage of low cost vacant retail space just in time for the holiday shopping season, and this is clearly going to be a seasonal business winner for them. But I'm having a difficult time getting past the ghoulish nature of this enterprise. The stench of death is so strong the buzzards are still circling overhead. They spent all of their energy on converting the interior for retail toy sales, and absolutely nothing on the exterior except for a cheap sign over the front door. The ghostly remains of the Hollywood Video lettering can still be seen on the stucco facade. I can imagine some Operations VP at Toys R Us barking out a directive to a project manager... "Just finish out the interiors, slap a sign on the front, and call it good! Get these F#@king stores open!!"
You can just bet these stores will be long gone before Super Bowl Sunday! Back to the graveyards they crawled out of.
Am I noticing a new trend? This is the second Toys R Us Express store I have seen spring to life in the body of a dead retail space. In this case it is the once empty Hollywood Video location in Warminster, Pa. that I have photographed several times. (see images below). There is another one in a strip mall on Roosevelt Boulevard in Northeast Philly. Obviously Toys R Us is taking advantage of low cost vacant retail space just in time for the holiday shopping season, and this is clearly going to be a seasonal business winner for them. But I'm having a difficult time getting past the ghoulish nature of this enterprise. The stench of death is so strong the buzzards are still circling overhead. They spent all of their energy on converting the interior for retail toy sales, and absolutely nothing on the exterior except for a cheap sign over the front door. The ghostly remains of the Hollywood Video lettering can still be seen on the stucco facade. I can imagine some Operations VP at Toys R Us barking out a directive to a project manager... "Just finish out the interiors, slap a sign on the front, and call it good! Get these F#@king stores open!!"
You can just bet these stores will be long gone before Super Bowl Sunday! Back to the graveyards they crawled out of.
value city department store. 2010Another failed attempt at recycled usage of retail space abandoned during the great recession. This is the facade of a Value City Department Store in Southampton, Pa. My image of the same building from another viewpoint is below. I love the design elements used in this structure; they provide the fluidity and movement in my photograph.
Value City Department Stores filed for bankruptcy in October 2008. This location was vacant for some time until it was leased to a bargain book seller. The entire interior space was filled with hundreds of tables of books with seemingly no organized method of inventory management. It drove me nuts the one and only time I went in there because the entire store was as random as a garage sale. The facade as shown above was covered by an enormous vinyl banner that said Bargain Book Warehouse (or something like that) That venture lasted about a year and the building is again empty. Back to square one.
Value City
This Recession Is Not Like the Others
As they used to say on Sesame Street, "One of these things is not like the others, one of these things is not the same." The current recession "is not like the others." At 33 months it is already more than three times longer than the average length of the other ten recessions we've had since WWII. There are no clear signs it will be ending anytime soon. Glimmers of a recovery appear from time to time, but most indicators remain depressed and many are worsening. On balance, the outlook is more negative than positive. Not since the Great Depression have we had two consecutive years of unemployment in excess of nine percent. What we're seeing is economic stagnation.
read the full essay by Ron Ross here
As they used to say on Sesame Street, "One of these things is not like the others, one of these things is not the same." The current recession "is not like the others." At 33 months it is already more than three times longer than the average length of the other ten recessions we've had since WWII. There are no clear signs it will be ending anytime soon. Glimmers of a recovery appear from time to time, but most indicators remain depressed and many are worsening. On balance, the outlook is more negative than positive. Not since the Great Depression have we had two consecutive years of unemployment in excess of nine percent. What we're seeing is economic stagnation.
read the full essay by Ron Ross here
BP Protest. 2010Like most Americans, the oil catastrophe has been on my mind quite often. It has consumed the media for better or worse. The one thing that strikes home so powerfully is the toxic culture of blame we all surround our selves with. This is Katrina all over again. Chest pounding, finger pointing, lawsuits galore. Dump money into easing the symptoms, and nothing towards curing the disease. Zero long term solutions.
This is our collective shame. We carry out our days in isolated bubbles of comfort, with nary a thought to the consequences of our unsustainable lifestyles. And when the shit hits the fan we gasp in horror. How could this be? How could they let this happen? It's all Bush's fault. It's all Obama's fault. It's all BP's fault. Stomp our feet and demand payment for damages in full, and when the media stops shoving the horrors in our faces we will all go back to our comfy little bubbles and feel safe again.
And that will be our fault, and our own toxic shame. No one to blame but ourselves.
In a state with the nation's highest jobless rate, landscaping companies in Michigan are finding some job applicants are rejecting work offers so they can continue collecting unemployment benefits.It is unclear whether this trend is affecting other seasonal industries. But the fact that some seasonal landscaping workers choose to stay home and collect a check from the state, rather than work outside for a full week and spend money for gas, taxes and other expenses, raises questions about whether extended unemployment benefits give the jobless an incentive to avoid work.
Full story from The Detroit News
Unemployment Rate Breakdown for April 2010
Adult Men 10.1 %
Adult Women 8.2 %
Teenagers 25.4 %
Whites 9.0 %
Blacks 16.5 %
Hispanics 12.5 %
Asians 6.8 %
Full story from The Detroit News
Unemployment Rate Breakdown for April 2010
Adult Men 10.1 %
Adult Women 8.2 %
Teenagers 25.4 %
Whites 9.0 %
Blacks 16.5 %
Hispanics 12.5 %
Asians 6.8 %
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