Bonanza, Boom and Bust or Bubble

Bonanza, Boom and Bubble
(This poem will be published in book format at UrbanBooksDigitalPublishing)


Flushed with cash from the recent California's housing boom,
Two young entrepreneurs set out to maximize their wealth
Maricopa county home prices remain very attractive.
What not to like about the endless sun and lush golf resorts of
Phoenix and Scottsdale? Housing development became their new gold rush
They are the tech-savvy speculators who want to take advantage of low home prices
Most of the western states have become the epicenters of the housing boom
Wherever there once were fields of corn, cotton, alfalfa, orchards, and peach trees,
Neat rows of houses are built so fast to meet the demand

Long lines form on Centex, McMillin, DR Horton and other national builders' lots
For many, the drive to become homeowners is so strong that they are willing to
stand in line for hours or even camp overnight to be the next lottery number selected
for the next lot or the next subdivision. It is a matter of endurance, money, and lots of hope
Put $6000 down and expect to sell the unfinished home for $200, 000. Move onto the next lot!
Four bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths Mcmansions and mansionettes do not stay long on the market
A seller's market makes real estate agents, mortgage lenders and everybody else happy
Urbanites soon want to reconnect with the countryside. They want the new ranchettes loaded
With fruit trees, vines, stables and barns spread over the hundreds of acres


The housing boom drives homeowners and speculators crazy. "How long to keep a home?" they ask.
Others sell their homes in high-priced areas such as San Jose, Orange County and relocate
to the cheap and affordable San Joaquin Valley real estate. Others take their money to other states
The housing market is booming in Las Vegas, Atlanta, California, Florida, Texas and many spots in the Northeast
What goes up must come down. No good thing lasts for ever. Seize the moment while it lasts
The boom soon gives rise to discomfort. The bust or bubble is creeping its way into this housing paradise
Before the next sunset or before the closing of the next deal, the for-sale signs appear in many subdivisions
The homeowners who wanted to keep their houses feel compelled to sell out and relocate to a more stable area
The faces and texture of the volatile neighborhood continue to change. The builders continue to predict and hope
A return to the days when they were raking money in. Such is not an easy feast.
The housing bubble sets its grips and refuses to let go of all the encumbered monies and plans.

(This poem will be published in book format at UrbanBooksDigitalPublishing)

Do Not Forget The Low-income Entrepreneurs: Oprah Shows Us The Way It is Done

Oprah Winfrey issued a challenge to some 300 members of her audience. She issued a video camera and $1000 to each one of them. The catch is that they could not spend this money on their relatives. They had one week to reach out to someone in need. Right of the bat, this is a great marketing coup for the Oprah Winfrey Show and all its sponsors. These audience members could give the money to some charities, organizations and deserving individuals. The stories had to be videotaped. This is a grassroots movement that stems from the idea of doing good. On an advertising level, news organizations will pick up the story quickly. What happens is that Oprah can create a buzz with all that money. And Bank of America and all the Harpo Holdings will benefit from this new idea of doing. Oprah could have used any of the numerous ad agencies in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles to come up with some fancy ads that will be on a few media. But, in her marketing and advertising departments' wisdom, they choose to go with individuals who will go back to their cities and hometowns to spread the word. For a buzz, there is no greater and better ingredient than that! All local journalists want to track this story. Is Oprah trying to set an example for others during this holiday season? You bet. It is time to give and be appreciative of others. Let us see who can outdo Oprah's largesse.

Oprah has a new opportunity to create groundswell of marketing buzz with bloggers and low-income entrepreneurs. If I were Oprah, I could give a second life to this marketing tour de force by getting bloggers and micro or mini entrepreneurs involved. By virtue of their solidarity, bloggers would jump to the occasion to show what type of charities they have been supporting. They would blog about every step of the process of giving away their $1000. The blogosphere, podosphere and vlogosphere would be a-buzz about the Oprah Winfrey show. Some of the bloggers, vloggers, podcasters may think about low-income entrepreneurs and the companies that are trying to raise funds to help them break the cycle of poverty by not relying on handouts. The newswire would pick the story. So would Yahoo.com, Google.com, Digg.com, SFGate.com, NYTimes.com, Newsweek.com, boingboing.com, mybloglog.com, techcrunch.com, Times.com, and AOL.com. It would be like a gift that keeps on giving. PBS/Frontline would also call to get the scoop. There is no doubt that Cable news networks such as CNN.com and Fox networks would come calling. They would inquire about why the bloggers decide to give to p2pmicrofinance web firms such as kiva.org, Microcreditcapital.com and others. They would find out that some people are still thinking about the poor in countries such as Haiti, Uganda, Bengladesh and elsewhere. They would find out that has been trying to get people, ordinary individualsto help the poor. By advertising on its Webcalendar Advertising board, Microcreditcapital.com can raise enough money to fuel the entrepreneurial spirit in Haiti and other Latin American countries.

Visit these sites: microcreditcapital.com, oprah.com, cnn.com, digg.com, yahoo.com, google.com, newsweek.com, boingboing.com, times.com, aol.com, techcrunch.com, mybloglog.com

Almond Rustlers Like Cattle Rustlers Should Be Thrown into Jail For Ever

From Bakersfield to Modesto, California's Valley Farming community has a new threat to worry about. Almond thieves are cutting deep into their profits. They are a new breed of thieves who descend upon the Valley and take away some of the most precious commodities. A lot of them appear to be sophisticated in how they manage to load up and take away lots of crates of almond ready to be shipped overseas. As the prices of almonds increase, so do the efforts by those bad guys to acquire the harvest of our Valley Farmers. These thieves are trying to destroy our lifestyle around here. So far, two of the thieves have been arrested by authorities. Nuts are a $ million business. They are prized by middle eastern countries that import them from various companies in California.

If you suspect shady activities around a shipping yard, farmers' properties, please call the authorities who are investigating some of the most recent thefts. Farmers have to deal with the thefts of their copper which runs wells. They are compelled to install surveillance cameras on far away fields to protect their properties. So with all this rash of thefts, the cost of doing business increases. All of us can help our beloved agriculture. We need to support our farmers. See books about California agriculture right on this site.