"For Tens of Millions of Americans, the Good Times Are Right Now" Or my
trip around Mt. Hood part 1.

"This is an era of great political division and dramatic cultural
upheaval. Much more quietly, it has been a time of great financial
reward for a large number of Americans.

For the 158 million who are employed, prospects haven’t been this bright since men landed on the moon. As many as half of those workers have
retirement accounts that were fattened by a prolonged bull market in
stocks. There are 83 million owner-occupied homes in the United States.
At the rate they have been increasing in value, a lot of them are in
effect a giant piggy bank that families live inside.

This boom does not get celebrated much. It was a slow-build phenomenon
in a country where news is stale within hours. It has happened during a
time of fascination with the schemes of the truly wealthy (see: Musk,
Elon) and against a backdrop of increased inequality. If you were unable
to buy a house because of spiraling prices, the soaring amount of
homeowners’ equity is not a comfort."

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/10/business/economy-boom-times.html

This ties in with what I've been seeing. Everywhere I go I see
unusually high levels of prosperity. My wife and I recently completed a
3 day trip around Mt, Hood. The least dramatic example of this
prosperity was the farm country between Maupin and the Columbia river. I
didn't see any of the big new multi-story trophy homes that dot the
countryside elsewhere out there, until we got to the places with a grand
view of the river. OTOH it looked like everyone was doing well. All of
the occupied homes were in great condition. The fences were well
maintained and you don't see anyone living in homes that look like
they're getting ready to fall down.

OTOH tiny Maupin, out in the middle of nowhere, is booming. The
town has somewhere around 500 full time residents. There are a lot of
big trophy homes around Maupin that can't be explained by the local
economy. I didn't see any empty store fronts. The most popular business
in town is obviously river rafting trips. The sidewalks were either new
or in great repair. The city has a nice new building for their services.
I overheard a conversation in the Maupin market about their need for
more workers. Naturally they have a coffee kiosk. The only business I
didn't see was a pot shop. We have an amazing number of pot shops
scattered Oregon.

https://maupinoregon.com/

https://cityofmaupin.org/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maupin,_Oregon

https://visitcentraloregon.com/cities/maupin/

Little Goldendale in Washington was an interesting example of our
current prosperity. It looked like Goldendale had gone through a decades
long period of stagnation. There were a lot of older building and a lot
of fairly recent buildings, without much in between.

The Maryhill museum, out in the middle of nowhere near Goldendale,
was another interesting example. The last time I had seen the museum was decades ago. The building had gotten a bit frayed around the edges. The
bulk of their collection was stuff Sam Hill, a railroad tycoon and the
museum's founder, had collected. The museum has added a new wing and
their collection has grown considerably. Sam's stuff is less than half
of their current collection. The building looked very well maintained.

https://www.maryhillmuseum.org/

TB

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