Yesterday The Epoch Times posted an article about the population migration that is currently taking place in America. People are fleeting states with high taxes, liberal policies, and shaky finances and coming to the southeast.
The article reports:
The shortages and rising price of fuel due to the ransomware attack that temporarily halted all of the Colonial Pipeline networks were devastating to many businesses in the American Southeast. But despite the rising costs of construction materials, business is booming for Southeastern contractors.
According to Stephen Smith, owner of Geneva Construction in Orlando, Florida, the $250,000 in materials he would have spent to build a home a year ago cost him around $300,000 today.
“Plywood is ridiculous,” Smith told The Epoch Times, describing how a 4-foot by 8-foot sheet of three-quarter-inch plywood he paid $25 for two years ago now costs him $72 to $75.
Still, Smith said his business is going strong. In fact, because of the demand for construction work in his area, he’s having a hard time finding enough skilled contractors to help him keep up with his workload.
The only thing that makes Smith angry is a proposal by the Commerce Department this week to double lumber tariffs on shipments of Canadian lumber into the United States from 9 percent to 18.32 percent.
“What an idiotic thing to do,” Smith asserted. “This is not the time to start levying tariffs on Canadian lumber. Why Biden is doing this, I have no idea, but it sure isn’t helping our industry at all.”
This is not the time to start a trade war with Canada.
The article concludes:
Contractors are also in high demand in Travelers Rest, South Carolina. Ed Tolson, owner of Carolina Home Improvement, told The Epoch Times that prices are high but there isn’t a shortage of people who are willing to pay. The challenge is getting the materials required to do the job.
“You go to Lowes and Home Depot and plywood is $48 a sheet when they cost $14 a year ago. A 2″ by 4″ went from $2.25 to $8 each.”
It’s also Tolson’s observation that the shortages in construction materials might be due to the same phenomenon that sparked the shortages and panic-buying of fuel in the Southeast—hoarding.
During a recent trip to 84 Lumber, Tolson said he saw signs posted everywhere saying there was no Oriented Strand Board (OSB) Plywood. Yet thousands of sheets of OSB Plywood could be seen stacked in the lumber yard. After speaking with a couple of the major contractors in his area, Tolson said these companies admitted they bought it all.
“They buy it when it comes in so they’ll have it when they need it,” Tolson asserted. “They’re hoarding it. They buy it all up so the little guy is left with nothing.”
“I invested in silver years ago,” Tolson mused. “I wish I had known then about plywood. I would have invested in plywood.”
Plywood has become the new toilet paper.