Financial, Economic and Social Mood Update (July 1, 2023)
Financial, Economic and Social Mood Update (July 1, 2023) This recent video from Elliott Wave International of Atlanta clearly and graphically illustrates just how weak the American economy and employment market are today – job openings or “help wanted” are now at historically low levels regardless of what is reported in the so-called “mainstream media”: https://www.elliottwave.com/Economy/Have-You-Seen-This-Chart-About-US-Job-Openings?utm_source=com&utm_medium=eml&utm_campaign=ar-cotd&utm_content=cotdrfjobopenings230531. Yet another disturbing trend in the economy is the fact that brand new real estate costs significantly more to build than it is worth to sell in today’s market. Commercial real estate in the USA already has an astounding 50 percent vacancy rate, and in the residential real estate market this figure is 14 percent. The latter figure is largely due to the fact that many more affluent people have more than one residential property, and that they have no desire to rent those additional properties. In any case, building material & labor costs are such that all real estate cost much more to construct than it is really worth – this holds true for high-end real estate all the way down to so-called “affordable” housing. If you purchase a good insurance policy for your property, you should notice that the entire “blanket” policy is worth much more than the actual property is worth. You will need this coverage in case of emergency, disaster or tragedy because it will cost much more to rebuild the same property from scratch – more than the property is actually worth. For modestly priced homes this “surcharge” will be from 30 to 40 percent more than the property is actually worth. For high-end real estate the same “surcharge” will be much more – say up to 200 percent more than the property is worth. To make a long story short, this tells us that this is NOT a…