America is Desolated and Devastated by Foreclosures
February 19th, 2009
The signs are there for the ordinary traveller to see – the length and breadth of America is desolated and devastated by foreclosures.
The world’s biggest and most important trade route stretches from the Atlantic shores of USA, passes through Detroit and crosses the Ambassador Bridge to enter Windsor, Canada. All along there were the scars of foreclosure.
In Los Angeles the entrance to a shop was hung with two signs on either side screaming, “Entire Shop on Sale” and “Going Out of Business.” America stands on the edge of an economic precipice – about to fall off the ledge.
An arterial highway connecting America with Canada till very recently did a daily trade of a staggering $1.5 billion – the bulk of it on trucks. Today business is folding up every day and there is neither petrol nor diesel to be bought throughout an entire stretch of 184 km on a highway that is a part of Pennsylvania – a state that was once prosperous. Not a single outlet selling automobile fuel was operating – all had been shut down. This has meant the closing down of other ancillary units selling everything from lottery tickets to condoms, from Starbucks to Big Macs.
This highway, the Penna Turnpike starts from Breezewood in Pennsylvania. Citgo pump was owned by Venezuela. It gave up business following drop in sale. The new franchisee followed suit within a year of purchase. The entry point to Penna Turnpike is hung with a warning notice – “No fuel or services for 116 miles.”
There is also another “no fuel” sign in Death Valley that lies between California and Nevada. But that place is the driest and hottest region in USA where it is not possible to maintain a petrol station skirting the Mojave Desert. But such a sign on Penna Turnpike seems unbelievable. It makes the traveller surmise that this must be due to some temporary dislocation. But the desolation that lies ahead was real. Service centres that once used to serve Panera bread hot chocolate in ceramic bowls or oatmeal from Au Bon Pain’s were all boarded up. The parking lots that used to be once choc-a-bloc with cars looked deserted and eerie.
The officials of the Turnpike Commission are putting up a show of bravery and insisting that the fuel and service centres would soon reopen after a public cum private initiative gets going. But it sounded very much like White House mouthing that good days would come back again to America.
- Banks are Stoking the Flames of the Foreclosure Crisis
- Greenwich Town Is Reeling Under Foreclosures
- Casino in New Jersey Tries to Fight off Foreclosure
- Bailout Money Has Not Benefited a Single Foreclosure Victim
- Foreclosures Are Centred in Four States
- Foreclosures Expected To Drop as Mortgage Rates Decrease
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