Real Estate Frenzy from Fortune Magazine
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.12.05
Fans of Jim Kunstler's Geography of Nowhere and the Long Emergency will be particularly nauseous after reading Fortune Magazine's article Riding the Boom, now available free online. 22 year old speculators buy "threesies" and foursies" (multiple purchases) of suburban tract houses in the middle of nowhere around Phoenix and Las Vegas. Some do not know how many they own, but are confident that they will just keep going up in price. In the desert. Truly Nowhere. Its so tulipomanic. Why should Treehuggers care? Trees will fall, resources will burn to support this insanity. Put on Flowers from the Talking Heads and read ::Riding the Boom
The destruction of desert habitat is horrific. Desert is extremely fragile. It's plants take years to grow. It's wildlife is dependant on a subtle and complex ecosystem. This article makes me want to vomit.
It's sad. When will people realize that living in the desert just isn't a good idea? All the energy & resources needed to sustain human cities (comfortable human cities at that) there are just not worth it.
I really feel the bigger issue is the lending practices. Reverse amortization and no-interest loans are the catalyst for this insanity.