Empty Buildings

I was driving south on Secor Road this morning when I passed the empty "Cinmeas 1,2,& 3". It looks like this will be the business model for the next generation. A business will start up, and continue until it is no longer a "gold mine", and then be boarded up. We have newer multi-cinemas all over town. For some reason the "model" seems to be to have 12-16 screens in each complex. It will be interesting to see what impact the 42" or larger DTVs will have on future cinema growth. In the meantime just "imagine" each empty building as not being there, replacing in your mind's eye with an enchanting bucolic landscape.

And who pretty much runs this town? Hmmmmm? Unions & Democrats.

Unions suck the money out of employers.
Employers can no longer afford the primo health benefits and overpaid wages and shut the doors.

Democrats take the money from the unions.
Citizens continue to re-elect the same democrats into office, and buy into the union mentality of entitlement.

Ah, the circle of life in NW Ohio.

If "unions" suck the money out of employers how come there is a gradual accretion of wealth to the top 1% of Americans. This link,
http://www.faculty.fairfield.edu/faculty/hodgson/Courses/so11/stratification/income&wealth.htmexpresses this pretty well.

I don't need a link to an article to show me how the wealthiest are getting wealthier. I see it too. They're not alone up there in their ivory towers. However, being wealthy and making more money isn't a sin. Loving money above all else is.

I'm sorry if you're offended by my comment that unions suck the money out of us, but it's true. I should have said POLITICIANS instead of Democrats, but this is a Democrat town. I never said they were the only ones, so I shouldn't have been so exclusive in my statement above.

The greedy "big corporations" are sucking the money out of all of us (consumers). Many of them buy factories (China) where the employees make probably 25 cents a day and they sell it at Walmart for $100. I get it, trust me. Do you know one of the reasons why they've resorted to doing that (besides being greedy)? Because they can't afford American workers anymore because of the greedy Unions and union workers who want $25/hour for pushing a broom or punching a hole in a piece of plastic.

The Unions cost more money than can be earned these days. The employers then raise the product price to pass along the cost to the consumer, and then we're stuck paying $25000-$45000 for a decent car for example.

I can post lots of links with lots of data that proves my point too. You probably won't read any of them but that's your choice and I'm fine with it.

http://www.unionfreeamerica.com/

Labor Unions Admit They Are Killing American Jobs

what does any of that have to do with empty buildings? Do you know of any companies going to use them or move into them?

Unions killing jobs my ass. NAFTA is killing jobs.

Do you honestly expect an American to compete financially with people willing to work for a couple of dollars an hour?

In a generation, this country will be just like Mexico. You'll either be rich, or dirt poor. THEN who will buy things like new cars and big box items?

The greed of corporate America will eventually kill itself. Of course the bean counters in charge at the moment could care less. They think in the "now", thats all that matters to them. By the time they run the business's into the ground by eliminating their customer base they'll have more money than God.

I still shop at the Toys R Us on Alexis. Some stores in that area seem to be doing well, while the whole mall concept in general seems to be heading downhill. The Woodville Mall is looking pretty empty these days. I go to Sears and Andersons, but rarely into the middle of the mall, meanwhile the Great Eastern Shopping Center actually seemed to be holding it’s own, with the recent exception of the Value City store closing.

P.S. Unions my ass, I thought it was overweight fatties that can’t bend over to pick up a piece of plastic, or push a broom without passing gas, and meanwhile sweating profusely. They are the ones primarily driving up the cost of healthcare and making all items unaffordable. The last time I was in Kmart, the busiest part of the store was the Jumbo Polyester Slacks and Pup Tents Department, and perhaps it’s no coincidence that department is located adjacent to the snack bar? Upon leaving that store I noticed that Mickey D’s had quite a line up of econo- boxes with sagging left side coil springs! If you really want to make money nowadays invest in a medical supply company that makes jumbo beds for the obese or a company that makes over- size caskets, you’d make a killing! After all, didn’t George Bush once say we were all in the investor class nowadays?

JeepMaker, I don't agree with you. Certainly the "mass market" will be dead but those who manufacture items would still have a market among the very wealthy. Then "quality" or "uniqueness" would be what sells an item. Also, the service that a wealthy buyer would get from the seller. Actually, this might be good for the environment. With the decrease in volume less energy and resources would be needed to manufacture top-quality items to a smaller pool of buyers. Each manufacturer would try to emulate the cachet of a "Rolls Royce" or a "Lamburghini". So they could have smaller production runs, and sell for higher prices (and profits). I kind of agree with you about NAFTA, but even without NAFTA I am sure that the present government would favor businesses over unions when it came to importation. I am reading an interesting book right now,"A Farewell to Alms" that is looking at such matters as income. In India the average worker in a cotton mill makes 38 cents as opposed to $9.00 per hour for American labor. Now American labor is more efficient (on average, four workers are employed in India to achieve the same productivity per hour as one American in one of our plants making cotton cloth), but still cannot compete with Indian workers with their low wages. Perhaps when Americans are will to work for, say, $1.40 an hour the work will return to America.

I have to wonder how well the Super-cinemas are doing in Maumee. I went to a 4:30 PM showing of "Untraceable". I liked it, but didn't check the reviews. It ended kind of quickly. I shared the theater with one other person (he walked out ahead of me). I spent $10.14 for a large coke and popcorn. Maybe that is where they make their money. One site said that it costs 40 cents to make a large popcorn (I paid $5.50). Do they need anyone to run the projectors now, or is that one way money is saved on labor?

You have to wonder, when the time comes that there are only, "haves" and "have nots" left, how long until there is general rebellion?

As for my earlier point, an example. I make good money at Jeep. Since 1995 alone, I have leased or purchased 11 new vehicles from Monroe Dodge. If I can't take it with me, I'm either not going or I'm not gonna have any! Since I don't think I have a choice about not going, I'm gonna be broke and have had fun when I die.

I wonder, how many Dodge Rams and PT Cruisers would you see parked outside those plants in Mexico where they are made by grossly underpaid Mexicans?

Probably none, or very old "used" ones. That's why the mix of cars will have to change if businesses won't pay their workers enough to buy their product. It's like "free" advertising. Mexican workers will probably be buying that new Indian car that will be coming on the market soon.

Perhaps we can exploit our competitive advantage in the burgeoning empty building economy?

What is pathetic looking are derelict buildings that have been up for lease (many by Michael Realty), receive no physical care, and slowly become dilapitated from the elements of the weather.

Typical of this is the former K-Mart & Foodtown on W. Central in Sylvania Township just west of Holland-Sylvania. Have you seen the K-mart auto repair shop building in front? It's a classic eyesore! The plywood sheathing is peeling off the wall slab by slab. Why doen't the township board of trustees take legal action against the current property owner?

"Perhaps we can exploit our competitive advantage in the burgeoning empty building economy?"

I believe that's the exact law of supply and demand.
No one is in the buildings, cost goes down. (which I haven't seen yet)

Thus having a "competitive advantage in empty building economy".