The carefully crafted economic policies of Barack Obama are paying dividends as more and more people are getting up in the wee hours of the morning to work in the covert commodity redistribution business.  Many of our country's most vulnerable individuals are finding work during the 'Summer of Recovery II.'  Ex-convicts, the socially disadvantaged, those lacking strong math and technical skills and even those considered to be 'the hard-core unemployed' are finding ways to profit as the Obama recovery chugs along.  The green shoots of the burgeoning iron, steel and copper recycling business are popping up all over the country.

In the past few months recycled iron has been a hot commodity in spite of its relatively low salvage value and difficulty in procurement and transportation.  In Rockford, Illinois, 60 iron manhole covers were appropriated from the city in a spring flurry of covert recycling activity.  A run on drain grates and manhole covers in Jacksonville, Florida, has pumped $100,000 into the iron manufacturing sector for replacements.  In St. Johnsbury, Vermont, two young men redistributed manhole covers, frames and grates from the city to a local salvage company.  The iron recycling trade in Riverside, California, has pioneered the appropriation of fire hydrants along with the more traditional manhole covers and grates.  Smaller operations have recently started up in Cape Giradeau, Missouri and Holly, Michigan.

Although there are no exact figures for the number of jobs created and saved through the covert iron recycling initiative, the numbers could be in the thousands or even millions.  The initial jobs created in the covert iron salvaging business are only a small part of the picture because for each manhole cover, sewer grate or fire hydrant that is redistributed to the scrap industry, jobs are created in the manufacture of new iron replacement parts and public sector union jobs are saved as the need for highly trained work crews for re-installation overrides budgetary concerns as a matter of public safety.  Some cities like Mobile, Alabama, are experimenting with concrete manhole covers, but over time this would cost jobs as the concrete recycling business shows little promise of profitability.

Although the value or iron for recycling compared with labor and acquisition risks isn't likely to create any long-term economic growth, the numbers for steel look a bit more promising.  Rural areas like Ludington, Michigan, with unused rail-road spur lines offer an attractive and profitable opportunity for covert steel recyclers.  In LaPorte County, Indiana, a large scale stealth operation brought in heavy equipment to harvest the rails from an abandoned spur line in an industrial park.  Over the Memorial Day Weekend, 32 feet of track was liberated from the Newport Secondary Line in Newport, Rhode Island, there is no word as to whether the crew earned double or triple time for their holiday shift.  Other covert rail redistribution operations have been used across the country in places like Taunton, Massachusetts, Paulden, Arizona and Ruskin, Florida.

The real money in the covert green recycling game is in copper.  Restrictive and expensive mining regulations that have been imposed by the government combined with increased demand for copper in wind turbines, solar panels and electric vehicles have created a real boom for redistributed copper.  Several towns in New Hampshire including Goffstown and Lawrence have seen a dramatic increase in copper pipe liberation from private homes during the past few months.  In Hamilton Township, New Jersey, an historic 100 year old school house had its copper pipes reallocated to help meet the demand for copper in the green energy sector.  During its Holy Week break, All Souls Catholic School in Engelwood, Colorado had copper piping torn out of the sprinkler system and suffered extensive flood damage due to improperly trained (non-union) covert removal techs.  Last month the student union at Oklahoma State University was de-piped.

To meet the increased demand for copper, covert commodities redistributionists have expanded their harvesting operations to include the scavenging of copper wire and tubing from air conditioning units.  Although not yet a widespread technique, the stripping of copper components in air conditioning units has been reported in Blendon Township, Ohio and recently in Mr. Obama's adopted home town of Chicago.  The covert copper extraction operation in Chicago hit the Animal Welfare League shelter which serves roughly 100 orphaned and abandoned dogs and cats.  The damage to the air conditioning units and cooling fans has caused particular hardship for the pets as temperatures have been in the high 80's and 90's this past week.

The copper redistribution business has been a boon to covert removal techs, recyclers, green energy manufacturers and union plumbers, pipe-fitters, electricians and the HVAC techs who perform repairs.  Again, there are no firm numbers, but in terms of jobs saved or created this is a pretty big deal. 

Look for continued growth in this sector until Mr. Obama and his comrades join the ranks of the unemployed.

July 8, 2011

paboehmke@yahoo.com