Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

[punkle]

Building slowing - an ancillary observation:

On Saturday, I ran out to my local Truitt and White lumber store to pick up a new door threshold and noticed a larger number of "workers for hire" lining the streets than I have ever seen.

For some time, Truitt and White (in Berkeley, CA) has been the "meeting spot" every morning for people looking for hourly "off the books" type projects. Most of these workers are immigrant workers that are paid far less than the typical bonded general contractor companies you see in the yellow pages. And they generally do decent work although it's a crapshoot - keep in contact with the really good ones when you find them.

Anyway, I believe there are usually around 50 or so people on the streets but yesterday at 12:00 noon there were easily 200 or more people lining the streets and flagging cars and trucks down looking for work. By noon, most have usually been picked up for work. It was a pretty amazing site and I believe it's a hint of things to come.