The Big Move

If you haven't moved in the middle of July in Texas, you haven't really experienced a move. That's really the only way to describe my two week absence from the blogosphere. It was hot. It was exhausting. It took days (and weeks to recover). I don't know why I didn't recruit more friends. Oh yeah, I wanted to keep them as friends.

The move is what I consider a big move, not because I changed towns or jobs, but because I changed lifestyles. I downsized. I left the view of the lake and the sunsets in the hills of West Austin for the flat land and parking lot scenery of south Austin. I went from my own stairs with a canyon view, plenty of space with my own washer and dryer to well, not.

This is life in the Obama economy, and I want to prevent it from happening to anyone else. As you may or may not know, I had a furniture store until February of this year, but being on the frontline of the recession - retail, durable goods - put an end to that dream. Our sales dropped 60 to 70% in one year, and it got worse the longer Obama was in office.

There have always been downturns and recessions, some you can prepare for and possibly ride out. This wasn't one of them. I am not the only casualty. Almost every furniture store that specialized in my sector of furniture (handmade Mexican and Indian imports) has also closed their doors over the past 18 months. Adobe Pueblo, El Paso Imports, Sierra, Zanzibar, Heroes and Architects, the list goes on and on.

It has been said that Austin was above the fray of this recession and it's impact would be minimal. But driving around town, you look at all the strip centers and retail locations, many vacant with "For Lease" signs hanging in the door (including my old location), and you realize the damage that's been done, especially to small businesses. The number of restaurants I used to frequent wasn't spared either. Popular neighborhood spots that have been serving food and hospitality for decades have also disappeared.

Now the talk has turned to a double dip recession, and given the job numbers, the slow-down in manufacturing, the percentage of mortgage and car payments being paid with plastic, and the dipping consumer confidence index, no smiley face from the Obama administration is going to be able to whitewash the truth.

The Democrats took over a country in 2007 that had unemployment under 5%, consumer confidence at record highs, and budget deficits of 200 billion dollars (not stellar, but far from the trillion dollar deficits Obama and Pelosi have been running). It might pay to remember that Obama was elected to the Senate during that 2006 election when Democrats took control of Congress, and you realize the only four years this president has spent in Washington have seen the biggest waste in government spending and the destruction of small businesses and private wealth.

The Barackalypse is upon us. The public sector has grown at hulk-like proportions while the private sector shrunk and private wages shriveled to half that of what government employees earn - who no doubt work 70% less. Now the bill is due, and the shrinking private sector is about to get hit with all the costs of the public sector's enraged expansion. The snake is eating the tail and neither half is satisfied with the meal.

Let my story be a tale of caution. The bad news isn't my situation. The bad news is I'm ahead of the curve. Like FDR, another Democratic president has interfered with the private sector, practiced the false premise of Keynesian economics, and put us on the brink of an extended depression.

Maybe that's the real reason I didn't blog for two weeks. I'm growing tired of being the bearer of so much bad news. If the Left's grip on America doesn't weaken, we will all be weaker - financially, emotionally, and spiritually.