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| Economy |
| The Coals, Waiting To Become Ashes |
| 2010-12-06 |
| This is an essay about the death of the town of Empire, Nevada that I wrote for my own blog. Yet another one of the great things Harry Reid has helped do for Nevada. Yesterday the United States Gypsum Corporation (or USG) announced the January 31st 2011 closing of its mine and plant in Empire, Nevada. Residents of the Empire -- the last company town in the west -- will have until June 20th 2011 to leave their homes, at which time the mine, plant, and entire town will be "idled." One hundred employees and their families will have to leave the area to search for work and housing. Those are the bare facts of the story. The reality is, of course, far less sterile and far more terrible. What is actually going to happen is that my community is going to die -- and, as I predicted in the introduction to An Unforgiving Land, a way of life is going to pass forever from the earth, largely un-mourned save by the few of us that have lived it. |
| Posted by:Secret Master |
| #7 USG has a gyp plant in Medicine Lodge Kansas that seems to be o.k. |
| Posted by: bman 2010-12-06 12:31 |
| #6 #4 Drywall now comes from China. My nephew's son bought a house down in Florida with China drywall. He and his wife did not know or did others at the time. He as well as others had to move out of their houses for health reasons. These houses are sitting empty. Many people cannot afford to buy another house or rent another and make payments on the house sitting empty with China drywall. For crying out loud, we could manufacture this stuff here at a better quality and in the end cheaper. The screwing you get ain't worth the screwing you get with these China imports. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2010-12-06 10:53 |
| #5 USG currently has a market cap of about $1.5B and has had a long string of quarterly losses. It had a market cap of about $8B back in the late 1980s. |
| Posted by: Lord Garth 2010-12-06 09:03 |
| #4 Drywall now comes from China. Unfortunately, it comes with incomplete removal/stabilization of H2S & SO2 gasses, which then come out in your house after construction or renovation, and destroy the metal in your wires, AC, plumbing etc. That's bad, of course, but it does generate repair work for the tradesmen during this home construction bust. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2010-12-06 08:23 |
| #3 It will be, crosspatch, it will be. |
| Posted by: nGuard 2010-12-06 07:45 |
| #2 There's some good folks out there. Shame to see this happen. A lot of other businesses will probably go by the wayside, too. Burning Man will probably be the only thing going in that part of the county, if that doesn't get taxed and permitted to death, too. |
| Posted by: crosspatch 2010-12-06 03:26 |
| #1 US Gypsum used in manufacture of drywall. Drywall used in new home construction. New home construction seen in vibrant economy. Vibrant economy now seen in...... China. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-12-06 01:37 |