I was just noticing that gas prices are going down.  This is despite escalation of war with Russia, Israel/Hamas fighting, potentially bringing Iran into the Israel war, and Houthis attacking ships in the Red Sea.  All of these wars involving oil producing countries and shipping should make gas prices skyrocket, but instead they are dropping.  That only happens if demand is plummeting.  Demand for gasoline only plummets if demand for everything is plummeting.

I've noticed that things are slowing at work as well. 

 Yup. We're in for a rough ride, I think. I'm not too worried about it, though. Most of us here are better prepared than most.  

 I've been expecting it to hit some time this year.  The question is, "will it be a slow slide or will something precipitate a catastrophic plummet?"

I'm in pretty good shape as well, although I haven't been good about working in my garden this year.  I've been focused on my writing and the garden has suffered. 

 Looks like recession is coming, but maybe not equally in all places.

In my city of Austin, a bunch of housing construction began around 2020, especially downtown.  As it is finishing this year, demand is way down, so it seems Austin is likely to run into a construction bust.

Here it is at least in part due to the influx of Californians during Covid, some of whom are now going elsewhere yet again (or back to California).

That's just one city.  Not sure what factors are at play elsewhere. 

 Somebody say possible cheap homes? I have my eyes on Austin. Mostly looking for land in a decent area, but still need something to live in :) 

 Austin proper is pretty expensive, and homes within city limits are likely to retain value even if there is a drop in demand more broadly, because space near the city center is highly limited and in demand.

If you go to the surrounding suburbs and exurbs, up to maybe an hour outside the city, home/land values might adjust down more. 

 Makes sense. Usually is. I'm a rural boy. I'd prefer rarely seeing my neighbors, but that requires a different type of income source. Especially moving halfway across America alone lol 

 Rural living is more possible now with remote work.  My parents are thriving on that model.

On a related note, my wife and I were discussing recently about part of the reason for the "brain drain" from rural areas into the cities has been the centralization and export of manufacturing industries.  As a result, there are no jobs left out in the country other than agriculture, really.

In theory, industries like textiles and food processing would be well-suited to have numerous plants spread through rural areas to be close to the source of raw materials.  But due to globalization, it has all been shipped overseas or condensed into a few mega-facilities. 

 There's an economic theory that some Catholics advocate known as Distributism.  The idea is that means of production and wealth generation should be distributed widely and owned at the lowest possible levels.  The distributists argue that any government intervention should focus on preventing centralization and monopolization.

I think something like that is the only way to preserve rural, small-town communities in the long run. 

 I agree with most of that, but... 

I really can't stand the statist bent if most big C Catholic Church... Not doctrine (I know that's not the correct word) on things that deal with The State. 

We, as humans, do not need nor should we desire "the state." 

But absolutely yes to keeping everything local and distributed and decentralized.  

 May to early July at the yard I ran at was so busy we had to work 6-12s and open the doors at 5:30 just to keep up. We would drop all side jobs. This is definitely a bad sign, if this is new.  

 Yup. It sure is... I'm not looking forward to this next bit...