Is the economic problem in America caused by the real estate market? Hello, I'm Gary Edelbrock, and my friend, Dan Shaw doesn't think so. Read on to see what he says. He's got some rather novel ideas! And at the end, one very practical thing we can all do to help. I'd love to read your comments below!

Market Update & What to do with Europe?

Well good morning all and I hope you enjoyed the early snow last week. This is the most amount of snow I have seen in Prescott for this time of year and it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

First and foremost Wednesday marked the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. 353 Japanese planes attacked our nation. Let us never forget! We must always protect our country from those who wish us harm.

I don’t know about you but I feel like slapping the next newscaster or politician who talks about either “how the real estate market brought our economy down” or “how we need to get real estate back up and running to help the economy”. These people do not get it! The real estate market is probably where it is going to remain for some time and arguably where it needs to be. Welcome to the new standard for real estate. And I don’t believe that is a bad thing. For those of you who have survived, congratulations. The media now needs to get off our backs. Realtors have done their jobs. They have adjusted, re-trained and innovated in a collapsed market and have survived. Congratulations to you all.

The economy needs many things, but the most important is jobs. If people have jobs, they will buy homes, cars, books, dinners, gps’s, and really cool mobile phones, along with other items.

Colleges need to offer a new economics class to teach the lessons of the past several decades. Greed, deceit and corruption lead to disaster and not all technology is good. That would be my course outline if I were teaching. Let me explain. Yes the economy fell with the real estate market. The question not being asked is, Why? Why was America’s economy being superficially propped up by the real estate market? While the real estate market grew to be a popular investment, jobs were being deported out of our country. Corporations moved to foreign lands. And technology got better. Remember corporate downsizing? Have you seen the Mercedes Benz commercial with Santa? It has been on for several years where Santa walks through the factory inspecting cars as they are being assembled, welds put in place and chassis attached. Notice anything missing in this commercial?. People are missing. Robots are welding, moving and attaching parts to cars. My point is that the real estate market boom, was covering for the huge loss of jobs in the US. The loss of jobs was created not only by moving jobs to foreign countries, but also by technology. When people are building cars, then can afford to buy cars. Robots don’t buy cars. SO even if you can build it for less, does it really make sound business sense? A booming real estate market was the mask that when taken off revealed the Phantom.

This country was so fixated on creating wealth that we forgot where it comes from. It comes from jobs. It really is that simple. People with jobs spend money and keep our economy in good health.

This morning’s news is about Europe and how it is going under water with debt. It will only cost us (and I mean US) trillions to keep Europe in the “lifestyle they have become accustomed to”. I personally don’t want to send that check. I have been on a chairlift while snowboarding and talked to Europeans who are janitors in England and are here in the US for their 3 month “holiday”(vacation). How have these countries ever really functioned? Greece and France seem to be the poster children of entitlement programs, with paid holidays, guaranteed jobs, and reduced hours of work. France makes California’s entitlement programs look closer to slave labor!

Side Bar – I remember our President telling us the middle east only hated the US and protested us because of President Bush and his policies of invading other countries. Well this morning in Greece (a somewhat lethargic country until they went broke) rioted and protested VP Joe Biden. Now otherwise placid countries hate us for letting them go broke? They kind of reminded me of the Occupy people. They want their lifestyle back, but not enough to “occupy” a desk.

Ok here are some of my ideas for Europe, none of which involve loaning them money. My first thought is to let them go under. No bailouts programs. No HAFA program. No loan modifications. Just foreclose on them. Now obviously, your average guy cannot go to the courthouse steps and purchase a country. But perhaps we will see some large companies or groups stepping up for the purchases? Just imagine a Disney France(it would certainly be much cleaner). Or perhaps AT&T Italy(it is a big country and they need better communication). Perhaps Fox England(fair and balanced news that no one cares about except the British)? How about Mc Ireland? Switzerland Packers. A whole new generation of fans could become involved in our pastime. Or German Apple? Germany needs to loosen up a bit and Apple is just the company to do it! I just think it makes some sense to clean up these ridiculous economies and put their people back to work. The German economy would likely collapse if the US government pulled our troops and bases out of that country. We are already supporting most of Europe and that is why they are looking to us to bail them out. But again I ask, “why is it our job to keep them in the lifestyles they have become accustomed to”? Has your life style changed since the crash? I know mine has. Perhaps Europeans just need to redefine their lifestyles as have most American’s?

My second idea is to send the reality tv shows. We could start off with an intervention show facing them with their dependencies on US money. Then send in that Pest control guy! I am sure he could find all kinds of interesting creatures and bugs! We could open the worlds largest American Pawn Store in Europe and watch what comes through the door! Then then finish off with Get a Job a new series put out by the Dirty Jobs guy. In this series he shows them how to find and how to work at dirty jobs, like building homes, selling retail, basic accounting and other professions where you actually need to show up 5 days a week for 8 hours a day. Perhaps then Europe will look more like countries with a purpose and less like they are being run by the Sons of Anarchy.

Courtesy of the Made in the USA Brand Well, as you can see I have no solid ideas for Europe, but I do know that the US cannot afford to continue bailing other countries out of debt. SO maybe some just need to fail and lets see what happens. Perhaps that is what the US needs to witness before it becomes real to us. Maybe we need some shock therapy to bring our senses about so that we quit giving credence to morons and whiners. We have our own issues.

IF you are going to ask, I have not been surprised by Newts meteoric rise in the poles. I have repeatedly said for years he is a brilliant guy. But I hope people understand that he has a lot of baggage. Newts baggage makes Herman Cain’s look tidy. But he also has more great ideas than congress and the senate combined. And he has the knowledge to implement his ideas. That is the difference.

Last but certainly not least is a great clip from ABC news that was sent to me from Karen Benson. It talks about how simple it really is to create jobs. If we put as much effort into this as we do watching what we eat, America will soon rebound!

http://cdnapi.kaltura.com/index.php/kwidget/wid/0_04vzdsr5/uiconf_id/5590821

A list is mentioned in this video, and here's the link to the Made in America products.

Dan Shaw                                           
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