The Boeing 787 Dreamliner and the Purple Squirrel

In its effort to create the 787 commercial airplane, it appears that Boeing has also participated in the search for the elusive Purple Squirrel. The Boeing 787 has been an offshore outsourcing failure, a costly lesson learned by the largest exporter in United States. The bird (787) does fly, but with a 3-year overdue delivery date, Boeing has had to provide price discounts of 25% on some of the earliest pre-purchases.

Project managers often use the “Faster, Cheaper, Better” mantra to sell a project based upon optimistic timelines or budgets, most engineers will respond with “pick two” and more often than not the engineers are correct.

 The 787 Project: 

 Faster: Failed, 2008 projected date, time wasted creating outsourcer supply-chain difficulties. Technology issues also arose during the project – which should have been expected in cases where emerging technologies are employed.

Cheaper: I’m sure that Boeing’s version of cheaper didn’t include cost and time overruns and deep discounts granted to companies who placed pre-production purchase orders. See “Better” Better: Commercial airplanes are the ultimate durable-good, many are flown for decades and safety should be the ultimate concern; “Better” should have the highest priority. The “Cheaper” aspect of the project could still be salvaged, if purchasers find that the 787 is a durable (and safe) aircraft. Boeing may experience a lager market share, offsetting production and engineering cost overruns, dependent upon durability and fuel savings.

The Boeing 737 Wikipedia entry says that there are still thousand of 737s in the air at all times of the day. The point is, that Boeing went cheap on the “Faster” aspect of the project and paid the price. Attempting to save time and money on project engineering, Boeing assumed that outsourcing would somehow mitigate a failure to maintain “institutional knowledge” and/or a resistance to train new staff.

"You have to realize that we hadn’t done a major development program at Boeing since the triple seven, you know that was 20 years ago, we had lost a lot of the institutional knowledge, we have got a lot of institutional knowledge now, we have trained 12,000 to 13,000 Engineers on how to do it right." 

Video transcript excerpt: Jim Albaugh, CEO Boeing Commercial Airplanes 

Some people in management tend to believe that Purple Squirrels do exist. Somehow, somewhere there is a highly skilled employee candidate who is pre-configured with the exact skills and knowledge needed to staff a project that may even involve emerging technology. Once the list of United States candidates have been exhausted/discounted, management lobbies the government for more temporary employment visas because they want to look at more squirrels to see if they can find a purple one.

 The Wall Street Journal has actually printed an article that doesn’t blindly support the “shortage” of Purple Squirrels in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math candidates. During the worst employment market since the Great Depression, there are lots of squirrels – again many employers are still not interested in squirrels that are not purple.

Dr. Peter Cappelli, Director of Wharton's Center for Human Resources, in The Wall Street Journal: With an abundance of workers to choose from, employers are demanding more of job candidates than ever before. They want prospective workers to be able to fill a role right away, without any training or ramp-up time. In other words, to get a job, you have to have that job already. It's a Catch-22 situation for workers—and it's hurting companies and the economy. To get America's job engine revving again, companies need to stop pinning so much of the blame on our nation's education system. They need to drop the idea of finding perfect candidates and look for people who could do the job with a bit of training and practice.

Dr. Peter Cappelli, “Why Companies Aren’t Getting the Employees They Need” The Wall Street Journal, 10/24/2011

Dr. Cappelli did a follow up article due to the avalanche of reader response. Most of the emails I received were in support of my argument, especially from readers struggling to get a job themselves. No surprise there. But a remarkable number of those who wrote were in positions where they were hiring, including recruiters. They reported that their organizations had shortages of employees because they would not train or invest in new hires. My favorite email came from somebody in a company that had 25,000 applicants for an engineering position and the staffing people said none of them were qualified. Could that really be possible?

Once the employer and recruiter have determined that there is no such thing as a Purple Squirrel, they tend to complain that there are not enough temporary work visas squirrels. A suspicious mind may conclude that employers might want to have additional leverage over any worker that they need to train -- a work-visa might just fit the definition of leverage for squirrels who don't happen to be purple. Fortunately, the CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes (Jim Albaugh) has come to the realization that regular squirrels can be trained just like purple ones.

Mr. Albaugh also appears to have come to the realization that squirrels tend to work better together in-groups where the output can be controlled.

“You have to realize that we hadn’t done a major development program at Boeing since the triple seven, you know that was 20 years ago, we had lost a lot of the institutional knowledge; we have got a lot of institutional knowledge now, we have trained 12,000 to 13,000 Engineers on how to do it right.”

“I think we over-stretched this time with some of our technologies and I think that we didn’t completely think through the supply-chain that we put in place. I think we’ve been able to address the technology issues and we’ve pulled some work back from the supply chain, we’re doing it internally…” “Obviously, whenever you have an issue you want to learn from it. We are doing a variant of the 787-8 and the 787-9 we’re doing more of the work inside the company now, we want to make sure we don’t lose control like we did on the 787-8” 

CNNMoney Video transcript excerpts, Jim Albaugh, CEO Boeing Commercial Airplanes 

Video Courtesy of CNNMoney “Boeing's game changer finishes first flight” By Chris Isidore @CNNMoney October 26, 2011: 1:43 PM ET http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/25/news/companies/boeing_787_dreamliner/

 See also: W.T.O. Ruling on Airbus Subsidies Upheld on Appeal By NICOLA CLARK Published: May 18, 2011 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/19/business/global/19wto.html?pagewanted=all Special Thanks to Dr. Peter Cappelli for his WSJ article

Show Us The Workers -- Here You Go

"Show Us The Workers - U.S. Employers Struggle to Fill Science, Technology, Engineering and Math ("STEM") Positions" is a published challenge made by Shanon R. Stevenson, of Fisher and Phillips LLP, a group of immigration attorneys in Atlanta, Georgia.  The challenge is to disprove the "shortage of STEM workers" propaganda promoted by immigration attorneys and lobbyists.  In her 2 page PDF document, Ms. Stevenson references a DOL publication, Foreign Labor Certification Annual Report, which is where I discovered the data for Table 2 and Table 3 of this document.

Ms. Stevenson writes:

"Despite the recession, the lack of jobs and the training fees charged to U.S. employers hiring foreign workers on temporary H-1B work visas, the U.S. Department of Labor’s ("USDOL") recently released Foreign Labor Certification Annual Report shows that U.S. employers are still struggling to find qualified U.S. workers in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math ("STEM"). Employers report recruiting for STEM positions for over two years in hopes of ultimately finding a qualified U.S. worker – often resulting in the employer losing lucrative contracts or having to resort to using contract workers."

Generally, when a firm is looking for new STEM talent, they look to the colleges, here's a table of the degrees conferred in areas that are rich in STEM curriculum for 2008 and 2009.

Table 1. 
NCES U.S. Citizen and Permanent Resident STEM Related Degrees Conferred 2008 and 2009

Year: 2009, 2008
Citizenship (standardized): U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents
Academic Discipline, 2-digit Classification of Instructional Program (CIP)	Doctorate Degrees	Doctorate Degree-Research Scholarship	Master's Degrees	Bachelor's Degrees	Associate's Degrees	Total 2008 and 2009
03 Natural Resources and Conservation	585	208	4,802	19,033	2,388	27,016
04 Architecture and Related Services	143	88	10,795	19,267	1,125	31,418
10 Communications Technologies/Technicians and Support Services	6		752	9,760	8,904	19,422
11 Computer and Information Sciences and Support Services	974	423	19,387	73,795	57,910	152,489
14 Engineering	4,136	2,410	38,459	131,645	4,373	181,023
15 Engineering Technologies/Technicians	54	7	4,444	29,557	60,724	94,786
26 Biological and Biomedical Sciences	6,979	2,800	16,305	155,964	4,482	186,530
27 Mathematics and Statistics	1,001	456	6,349	29,343	1,698	38,847
40 Physical Sciences	3,798	1,824	8,376	42,710	3,874	60,582
41 Science Technologies/Technicians	5		45	599	2,817	3,466
51 Health Professions and Related Clinical Sciences	12,245	2,263	116,062	230,794	323,051	684,415
Degrees Conferred	29,926	10,479	225,776	742,467	471,346	1,479,994

From the Foreign Labor Certification Annual Report, the occupations with more than 1000 Permanent (Residence) Labor Certifications are shown in Table 2, with the Office of Employment Statistics employment levels and Loss Gain.

Table 2. 
TOP PERM Labor Certifications and Employment by Occupation.

OCC_Code	OCCUPATIONS WITH MORE THAN 1,000 PERMANENT LABOR CERTIFICATIONS	Number of Certifications	OES Employment  2010	OES Employment  2009	Employment Loss Gain
15-1031	Computer Software Engineers, Applications	9,854	499,280	495,500	3,780
15-1051	Computer Systems Analysts	5,695	495,800	512,720	(16,920)
15-1032	Computer Software Engineers,Systems Software	4,038	378,920	385,200	(6,280)
11-3021	Computer and Information Systems Managers	1,893	288,660	287,210	1,450
17-2072	Electronics Engineers,Except Computer	1,738	133,660	135,990	(2,330)
13-2011	Accountants and Auditors	1,595	1,072,490	1,106,980	(34,490)
15-1021	Computer Programmers	1,536	333,620	3678,80	(34,260)
15-2031	Operations Research Analysts	1,432	62,210	60,960	1,250
19-3021	Market Research Analysts*	1,233	Non Equiv. SOC	Non Equiv. SOC	N/A
35-2014	Cooks, Restaurant	1,115	901,310	898,820	2,490
17-2141	Mechanical Engineers	1,074	234,400	232,660	1,740
13-2051	Financial Analysts	1,042	220,810	235,240	(14,430)
15-1071	Network and Computer Systems Administrators*	1,034	Non Equiv. SOC	Non Equiv. SOC	N/A
17-2071	Electrical Engineers	1,003	148,770	151,660	(2,890)
	Employment Loss Gain				(100,890)

"Non Equiv. SOC" Represents Standard Occupational Classifications that have substantially changed from 2009, to the 2010 NAICS standard.

Again, from the Foreign Labor Certification Annual Report, shown in Table 3 below is the Top 10 Prevailing Wage Determination for foreign workers; additionally, employment level data for 2009 and 2010 and a Loss Gain column shown.

Table 3.
TOP Prevailing Wage Determinations and Employment by Occupation.

Wage	Prevailing Wage Determinations Most Frequent Users	Num of PWD	OES Employment  2010	OES Employment  2009	Employment Loss Gain
$41.30	Computer Software Engineers, Applications	9,282	499,280	495,500	3,780
$37.16	Computer Systems Analysts	3,330	495,800	512,720	(16,920)
$44.36	Computer Software Engineers, Systems Software	3,092	378,920	385,200	(6,280)
$42.44	Electronics Engineers,Except Computer	1,582	133,660	135,990	(2,330)
$28.87	Physical Therapists	1,441	180,280	174,490	5,790
$60.29	Computer and Information Systems Managers	1,412	288,660	287,210	1,450
$9.57	Landscaping and Groundskeepers	1,240	829,350	859,960	(30,610)
$35.30	Mechanical Engineers	1,239	234,400	232,660	1,740
$42.84	Financial Analysts	1,143	220,810	235,240	(14,430)
$32.52	Computer Programmers	1,101	333,620	367,880	(34,260)
	Employment Loss Gain				(92,070)

Table 3.(a) examines the Employment Level Loss Gain for 2010 and Includes Degrees Conferred in 2009 relevant to foreign worker most requested Prevailing Wage Determinations.

Table 3.(a)
Top Prevailing Wage Determinations, Employment Levels Loss/Gain, Degrees Conferred to Citizens and Permanent Residents

Department of Labor Prevailing Wage Determinations 2010 and Relevant Educational Programs for Occupation	Number of DOL Prevailing Wage Determinations	OES Employment Level (Loss Gain)  2010	Year: 2009 Citizenship (standardized): U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents Level of Degree or Other Award: All values	Year: 2009 Citizenship (standardized): U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents Level of Degree: Bachelor's
Computer Software Engineers, Applications	9282	3,780
Computer Software Engineers, Systems Software	3092	(6,280)
14.09 Computer Engineering, General	-	-	6,197	4,005
11.07 Computer Science	-	-	10,308	7,155
11.01 Computer and Information Sciences, General	-	-	29,984	16,169
11.04 Information Science/Studies	-	-	9,078	4,707
11.08 Computer Software and Media Applications	-	-	8,523	2,796
Sub Total	-	-	64,090	34,832
Computer Systems Analysts	3330	(16,920)
11.05 Computer Systems Analysis	-	-	1,749	923
Electronics Engineers,Except Computer	1582	(2,330)
14.10 Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering	-	-	15,123	10,733
Physical Therapists	1441	5,790
51.23 Rehabilitation and Therapeutic Professions	-	-	18,140	3,182
Computer and Information Systems Managers	1412	1,450
52.12 Management Information Systems and Services	-	-	13,971	7,435
11.10 Computer/Information Technology Administration and Management	-	-	8,263	2,216
Sub Total	-	-	22,234	9,651
Landscaping and Groundskeepers	1240	(30,610)
No NCES Educational Programs	-	-	0
Mechanical Engineers	1239	1,740
14.19 Mechanical Engineering	-	-	20,271	16,838
Financial Analysts	1143	(14,430)
52.08 Finance and Financial Management Services	-	-	39,096	33,315
Computer Programmers	1101	(34,260)
11.99 Computer and Information Sciences and Support Services, Other	-	-	3,690	589
11.02 Computer Programming	-	-	4,449	788
Sub Total	-	-	8,139	1,377

Degree Level: All Values:
Doctorate Degrees, Doctorate Degree-Research/Scholarship, Doctorate Degree-Professional Practice, Doctorate Degree-Other
Master's Degrees, Bachelor's Degrees, Associate's Degrees
First Professional Certificates (Post-Degree)
Post-Master's Certificates
Post-Baccalaureate Certificates 2 But Less Than 4 Year Certificates
1 But Less Than 2 Year Certificates, Less Than 1 Year Certificates

With employers complaining of a shortage of "qualified" candidates, the term "qualified candidate" cannot be considered entry level salary.  Therefore, Table 3.(b) should be a fair representation for comparing median salaries against foreign worker salary offers. (In most cases, the Prevailing Wage Determination is low enough to recoup immigration and legal fees associated with employing foreign workers in the first year of employment.)


Table 3.(b)
Most requested Prevailig Wage Determinations with Office of Employment Statistics Mean Hourly wage for Occupations.

PWD	Prevailing Wage Determinations (PWD) Most Frequent Users	Num of PWDs	2010 OES Hourly Mean Wage	OES Hourly Wage Delta	Yearly Wage Differentlal per PWD
$ 41.30	Computer Software Engineers, Applications	9282	$ 43.47	$ (2.17)	$ (4,513.60)
$ 37.16	Computer Systems Analysts	3330	$ 39.06	$ (1.90)	$ (3,952.00)
$ 44.36	Computer Software Engineers, Systems Software	3092	$ 47.10	$ (2.74)	$ (5,699.20)
$ 42.44	Electronics Engineers,Except Computer	1582	$ 44.58	$ (2.14)	$ (4,451.20)
$ 28.87	Physical Therapists	1441	$ 37.50	$ (8.63)	$ (17,950.40)
$ 60.29	Computer and Information Systems Managers	1412	$ 59.27	$ 1.02	$ 2,121.60
$ 9.57	Landscaping and Groundskeepers	1240	$ 12.23	$ (2.66)	$ (5,532.80)
$ 35.30	Mechanical Engineers	1239	$ 39.65	$ (4.35)	$ (9,048.00)
$ 42.84	Financial Analysts	1143	$ 41.36	$ 1.48	$ 3,078.40
$ 32.52	Computer Programmers	1101	$ 36.01	$ (3.49)	$ (7,259.20)

Physical Therapists (Table 3.(b)) is highlighted to denote a large differential (Delta) between National Mean hourly wage and immigrant worker Prevailing Wage Determinations.


So, Ms. Stevenson, if there is demand for your immigration services, it isn't because there is a shortage of U.S. citizen or permanent resident candidates.   In the aggregate we have lost about 100,000 jobs in these "shortage" occupations. Even within the "growth" occupations, in almost all cases, foreign labor applicants exceeded employment growth; this fact absolutely disproves the labor shortage thesis.

For instance, within Computer Software Engineers, Applications, if 9,282 immigrants were added to the employment roles and the employment levels only rose by 3,780 there are 5,502 Computer Software Engineers, Applications specialists who are now unemployed.

Table 4: 
Occupational Majors: Employment Levels

OCC_CODE	Occupational Title	GROUP	Employment 2010	Employment 2009	Employment 2008
00-0000	All Occupations	total	127,097,160	130,647,610	135,185,230
11-0000	Management Occupations	major	6,022,860	6,116,380	6,152,650
13-0000	Business and Financial Operations Occupations	major	6,090,910	6,063,670	6,135,520
15-0000	Computer and Mathematical Occupations	major	3,283,950	3,303,690	3,308,260
17-0000	Architecture and Engineering Occupations	major	2,305,530	2,412,730	2,521,630
19-0000	Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations	major	1,064,510	1,308,380	1,296,840
21-0000	Community and Social Service Occupations	major	1,901,180	1,891,320	1,861,750
23-0000	Legal Occupations	major	992,650	999,020	1,003,270
25-0000	Education, Training, and Library Occupations	major	8,457,870	8,488,740	8,451,250
27-0000	Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations	major	1,716,640	1,745,670	1,804,940
29-0000	Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	major	7,346,580	7,200,950	7,076,800
31-0000	Healthcare Support Occupations	major	3,962,930	3,886,690	3,779,280
33-0000	Protective Service Occupations	major	3,187,810	3,172,420	3,128,960
35-0000	Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations	major	11,027,340	11,218,260	11,438,550
37-0000	Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance Occupations	major	4,175,550	4,269,480	4,429,870
39-0000	Personal Care and Service Occupations	major	3,425,220	3,461,910	3,437,520
41-0000	Sales and Related Occupations	major	13,437,980	13,715,050	14,336,430
43-0000	Office and Administrative Support Occupations	major	21,503,800	22,336,450	23,231,750
45-0000	Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Occupations	major	408,040	419,200	438,490
47-0000	Construction and Extraction Occupations	major	5,072,530	5,751,630	6,548,760
49-0000	Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Occupations	major	4,928,960	5,114,150	5,374,850
51-0000	Production Occupations	major	8,236,340	8,927,130	9,919,120
53-0000	Transportation and Material Moving Occupations	major	8,547,980	8,844,700	9,508,750

Table 5: 
Occupational Majors: Employment Loss Gain

OCC_CODE	Occupational Title		Loss Gain 2009-2010	Loss Gain 2008-2010
00-0000	All Occupations		(3,550,450)	(8,088,070)
11-0000	Management Occupations		(93,520)	(129,790)
13-0000	Business and Financial Operations Occupations		27,240	(44,610)
15-0000	Computer and Mathematical Occupations		(19,740)	(24,310)
17-0000	Architecture and Engineering Occupations		(107,200)	(216,100)
19-0000	Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations		(243,870)	(232,330)
21-0000	Community and Social Service Occupations		9,860	39,430
23-0000	Legal Occupations		(6,370)	(10,620)
25-0000	Education, Training, and Library Occupations		(30,870)	6,620
27-0000	Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations		(29,030)	(88,300)
29-0000	Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations		145,630	269,780
31-0000	Healthcare Support Occupations		76,240	183,650
33-0000	Protective Service Occupations		15,390	58,850
35-0000	Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations		(190,920)	(411,210)
37-0000	Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance Occupations		(93,930)	(254,320)
39-0000	Personal Care and Service Occupations		(36,690)	(12,300)
41-0000	Sales and Related Occupations		(277,070)	(898,450)
43-0000	Office and Administrative Support Occupations		(832,650)	(1,727,950)
45-0000	Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Occupations		(11,160)	(30,450)
47-0000	Construction and Extraction Occupations		(679,100)	(1,476,230)
49-0000	Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Occupations		(185,190)	(445,890)
51-0000	Production Occupations		(690,790)	(1,682,780)
53-0000	Transportation and Material Moving Occupations		(296,720)	(960,770)
	Employment Loss Gain		(3,550,460)	(8,088,080)

Source Data:
National Science Foundation WebCASPAR (Educational Statistics)
https://webcaspar.nsf.gov/index.jsp?subHeader=WebCASPARHome

U.S. Department of Labor
Foreign Labor Certification Annual Report

Bureau of Employment Statistic: Office of Employment Statistics
http://www.bls.gov/oes

Suggestions for the Occupy Wall Street 99ers

Update: Very pleased to see this video posted by a 99er supporter
End update:

A few things the 99ers should consider.

1.) Support Ron Paul's Competing Currency Bill HR 1098. "Legal money" has been eliminated in the U.S., the currency we have now is non-redeemable Federal Reserve Notes and coinage with no intrinsic value. A roll of pre-1965 silver dimes, in metallic value would buy 30 gallons of gasoline today.



2.) Eliminate Corporate Personhood, if a corporation must lobby the government, it should do so through its shareholders and employees who have U.S. voting rights.

3.) Audit the Federal Reserve (corporation). If the U.S. Treasury is no longer the primary shareholder of the Federal Reserve, remove the Federal Reserve’s privilege to print/create U.S. debt obligations.

4.) Restore Glass Steagall and Bankruptcy protection for primary residences, currently second home mortgages can be negotiated through bankruptcy courts, but primary residence mortgages may not.

5.) Robo-signing foreclosure fraud is not a victimless crime -- it is still fraud. State courts should entertain Adverse Possession cases against all banks that cannot provide clear title. If the bank cannot prove that the it had title at the time the homeowner stopped making payments, the homeowner should from his/her evidence of property tax and maintenance records have legal recourse against the banks who have forever clouded the title on their property.

The secret to a successful retirement is a home that is paid for.

6.) Eliminate the “Social Security Wage Base” which is capped at $106,800.00 per year. Social Security (and apparently Medicare) contributions are exempt on wages above the $106,800.00 threshold. This is clearly a subsidy for those who benefit the most from the U.S. infrastructure.

7.) Eliminate Temporary Worker visas, these visas are labor market interference. Wage stagnation caused by labor oversupply, coupled with U.S. currency devaluation has destroyed America's ability to save, purchase homes and prosper. In the first decade of the 2000’s, employment levels only rose by 1 million in the 16 through 64 age group, while the population grew by 22 million. Another 2.2 million jobs went to those in the 65 and older age group.

7.1) Businesses want open borders, except where the U.S. taxpayer funded U.S. Customs Department detects and confiscates counterfeit goods and illicit copies of Intellectual Property.

7.2) Colleges want open borders, except State borders where they are allowed to charge much higher “Out of State” tuition fees.

7.3) A full 20% of college degreed immigrants are underutilized, working as cab drivers, nannies and dishwashers. Meanwhile, we are asking our kids to assume $80,000 in basically non-dischargeable debt for an undergraduate degree, only to then be required to compete against foreign nationals whose first college loan is for a (U.S.) postgraduate degree.

7.4) There are 5 million college degreed Americans and permanent residents who are also underutilized.

8.) Eliminate the Second Home Mortgage Interest Deduction. Liberal immigration policy requires affordable housing for new immigrants and upward housing options for citizens, this tax subsidy reduces the available inventory of available housing, and combined with mass immigration, is a driving factor in creating housing bubbles. Additionally, these homes can be used as a tax dodge, i.e. rented out for Corporate Board meetings etc.

Lots of second-home buyers rent their property part of the year to get others to help pay the bills. Very different tax rules apply depending on the breakdown between personal and rental use. If you rent the place out for 14 or fewer days during the year, you can pocket the cash tax-free. Even if you're charging $10,000 a week, the IRS doesn't want to hear about it. The house is considered a personal residence, so you deduct mortgage interest and property taxes just as you do for your principal home.

The Housing Vacancy Permit: Vacant and blighted housing is a real problem that municipalities must address, destroying these homes would be an unconscionable waste of natural resources and withholding these houses from the market with taxpayer financing (TARP and other) is a moral hazard. The Housing Vacancy Permit would address municipal costs associated with vacant properties, inspections, policing, maintenance etc., before these homes become blighted.

There are 30 million renters in the United States, introducing the vacant housing inventory to the rental market could substantially reduce rental housing costs. A reduction of $200.00 per month, for each renter would introduce $6,000,000,000.00 discretionary spending into the economy each month. A reduction of $500.00 per month would equate to $180 Billion of redirected spending per year.

The goal of the Housing Vacancy Permit is to return vacant properties to the occupied inventory either through sale or rent. A short grace period for sale or rent would be allowed before Vacancy fees (double the property tax?) would commence, and if the property cannot be sold, it must be rented/occupied to avoid these Vacancy fees. Returning these homes to their useful purpose at the local level could defeat the Federal effort to keep these homes from being re-introduced into the for sale/rent inventory.

A reduction in housing costs would make U.S. workers more competitive globally, as rents and principal paid for housing is taxable at the State and Federal levels. Lower housing costs could also lower salary requirement and tax burden to U.S. workers.

The second best outcome for vacant housing today would be for the local municipalities to seize vacant homes through tax lien and reintroduce them into the for-sale or for-rent inventory at fire-sale bargains before they become blighted.

The Assault on the LAND of Liberty:

Economics is said to be the “The Study of Scarcity.” The Classic Economists were keenly aware of population’s effect on wages and rents; population is something neo-economists rarely acknowledge. For the last thirty years, economists like Greenspan have endorsed a policy of making labor plentiful and housing scarce.

As the U.S. currency has slowly been debased, moving away from gold and silver backed Securities, the smart money moved from Bonds and Currency to Real property; further, lobbyists and politicians found ways to inflate real property.  Ultimately, since the currency in neither backed by gold or silver, the U.S. Currency is now backed by land under our feet, we are witnessing the foreclosure upon the Land of Liberty.