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Pastimes : Clown-Free Zone... sorry, no clowns allowed -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Earlie who wrote (241581)	5/20/2003 9:17:06 AM
From: Bill/WA	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 436258

Bill/WA to Earlie; on the road & other observations Finally back in WA State after spending 1 ½ months in Colorado helping the kids get their new/used home/cabin livable up in the mountains outside of Denver. O2 is much rarer at 8900' than sea level! Was quiet surprised at the number of LARGE houses nestled up the sides and on top of the mountains. However, a number are on the market with many being reduced in price (some reduced by a large % in price). Seems to be a large inventory of new empty rental units with big banners stating "Free Rent"…not sure exactly what that means? However, with interest rates so low and financing being so easy, I'm sure its just as cheap to buy (if not more) rather than pay rent. Centex has cleared a very large plot of land on the SW side of C-430, but has laid dormant with no progress or work my whole time there. Sign of things to come? Also notice a number of large office complexes (new and old) totally empty with For Lease signs on them. As mentioned previously, talked to a plumbing contractor who does high end homes and his business has dropped off severely, so much so that he spends winters in FL with relatives doing odd plumbing jobs. Went with the son-in-law who was in the market for a used 1 ton pickup for work. Dealers barely gave him anything for his trade-in. Remarks were basically that the used car market was in the dumper because they can't compete with the 0% interest for 5 yrs offered on the new vehicles. Imagine what the used vehicle inventory will become when the keys start returning on those new vehicles from the newly unemployed owners. Going through Bozeman, MT during the day I again noticed a number of vacant commercial building sightings off I-90. This kinda surprised me as I thought Bozeman was supposed to be booming. Returning to WA State, my friends tell me out here on the peninsula that we are in an economic slump. On a personal note, I will be moving to Colorado on the kid's acreage. It'll be nice to be close to them and the grandkids. (Might have to change my moniker from Bill/WA to Will/CO, eh? Also, if your target for the ancient shiny relic is still what it was as you suggested to me last summer while I was up in BC and the Yukon, I have already marked a number of locations in CO to do some panning, dredging and sifting through old mine tailings!! ;-) BTW, I often wonder about those Canadians I talked to up there that insisted I was crazy when I told them I was going to accumulate and hold my Canadian dollars (they were converting their C$ to US$ whenever they could). And lastly, your stated paranoia about recouping PUT profits had me somewhat concerned about "how bad things could get". However, when combined with other oblique observations such as the frailties of the SIPC, pension fund insurance, states' debt levels that have made them postpone tax refunds to their citizens and reduce their fire and police forces, the fumbling and bumbling of the Fed, the ease (at least in the past) that the government could outlaw the holding of gold, etc…one "could" compile a scenario of a "very dramatic" change.