To: vdjor AT yahoo.com, homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [Homestead] suburbia becomes untenable with rising gas costs
Date: Wed, 25 Jun 2008 09:29:31 -0500
On Jun 25, 2008, at 8:33 AM, VAN DELL JORDAN wrote:
Do you think there will be any trend away from rural suburbia? And
do you think that gasoline might become unavailable, or so expensive
that average income families won't have enough money to buy?
How do you define rural suburbia?
Polls for the last twenty years show that most Americans would prefer
to live in a small town or rural place. So that is a constant
demographic tension. The migration in and out of cities and rural
areas is a reaction to various and changing economic conditions,
mostly where the income can be earned. High urban real estate prices
are one reason people keep moving further out. Right now fast rising
gas prices are a trigger causing some commuters to rethink their
housing. Stir that into the economic mix with a down and uncertain
housing market and people will do what they need to do, rather than
what they want to do.
Retirees whose income arrives in the mail can still live in rural
areas. Telecommuters will increasingly live in rural areas.
No, I don't think gasoline will become unavailable or priced so high
that ordinary people can't buy it.