I was hanging with a bunch of my surfer buddies the other day, watching the waves. There are a lot more of us hanging around these days, because so many of us are out of work. The downturn has hit the construction guys very hard, so there were a number of guys who would rather have been taping wallboard or banging nails or finishing cabinets than watching a pretty good WNW swell fill in.
When the conversation turned to politics, one of the guys weighed in about how let down he felt about Obama. Others chimed in that he hasn't done much since he's been in office. They were especially fried that he hasn't turned the economy around yet. They're ready to vote for anybody else because they figure Obama has had his chance.
So I asked one of the guys how long it takes to build a house in our county.
He said it takes anywhere between 18 months and three years, depending on how big and complicated the house is.
Next I asked how long it takes to get financing lined up, plans drawn and approved, and to get all the necessary permits? Another guy said that the rule of thumb is that all the preliminaries take as long as it takes to build the house.
"So you're telling me that Obama should turn around the economy in half the time it takes to plan for and build a house in our county? You're telling me turning around the economy is no harder than building a house here?"
That shut 'em up, and made 'em think, and turned the conversation around.