I think your question is a good one and one I wish more people would be concerned with. First of all, honeybees are not native and the collapse they are suffering has to do with the way they have been factory farmed to support agricultural growers, primarily fruit farmers. There are native bees and yes, they suffer the same primary problem that butterflies do. That is habitat destruction. It is hard to say if this is the issue in your area. As Jeff indicated, we see cycles in individual species. Right now we have a boom of Red Admirals on the east coast with hundreds spotted at a time. In past years, I have seen one or two, total, a sease. The only way to really know what is going on near you is to ask your local butterfly club about any butterfly surveys in your area. Typically these surveys have been conducted for a number of years and they can tell you if butterflies are indeed declining. Our general sense is "yes" in many areas with the decline of habitat. However, in other areas, things are better with the decline of pesticide use and conservation/restoration of habitats. We also see that spraying for pests is the number one cause of decline in many stable areas. Spraying for mosquitos and gypsy moths being the biggest culprits. If this has happened in your neighborhood, then chances are it has affected your butterfly population. Join you local butterfly club and you will get a wealth of information. Cheers, Elisabeth

That's cool Ray! I am a serious Purple Martin landlord wannabe! This will actually be my 4th season trying to establish, and I have learned so much over that time. The first 2 seasons, my pole was not in an optimal location, and so I moved it a few feet to a better location last year. Had LOTS of visitors last year, and am hoping that some of them will come back to me this year. I am offering 6 Troyer vertical gourds right now to start. Originally offered a house and some gourds, but found that the house only attracted the HOSP's in. I think that Martins in my area prefer gourds anyway. I have lots of Purple Martin landlord friends and some who live nearby to me fill their 80+ gourds each season. They are so much fun to observe!~~Angie

Look at it this way. If you and the builder negotiated a contract and then property values went up, would you appreciate him coming to you asking for more money? It's no different than you asking him for a better price. A contact is a contact. In the business I am in, we quote jobs based on the price of stainless steel, which has very fluid pricing. We quote based on current pricing and hope the market holds out long enough for us to get the order and purchase material at that price. Sometimes the price of stainless drops and we make a little extra, sometimes the price goes up and we lose some money. The builder is in this same position. When he quotes a job, the price of materials may go up or down, either giving him a little extra profit or cause him to dig deeper in his pocket. Either way, you pay the same price. You agreed on a price and you are legally and morally bound to pay what you agreed on.....like it or not. You did come here for opinions and that's what you got. Sorry if you don't like the answers you got.

I can't say things in a few words. Some of us 'armchair economists' are out here living the problems, seeing the changes. I realize that for quite some time we have been told, 'you aren't seeing what you think you are seeing, you are seeing what we tell you'. This country has been in the decline since they adopted globalism. That's not a 'long time' in the history of the world, but it's the 'entire time' in our globalism journey. Oh, we have increasingly had access to cheaply made products and we can get our weekly fix at Wal Mart. We can sit and watch 99 channels of mostly mindlessness and propaganda. We have more and more credit cards with higher and higher limits. We have the opportunity to refinance our homes, often, taking out the equity to fuel this frenzy. That hasn't really proven to be a sucess. Many things can change in a time span such as the next 40/50 years. Entire forests can grow, radiation can become livable, people are born and die. We will have changes by 2050 - and alternative energy will have to be one of them. I'm thinking it will also be owned and controlled by corporations. Will we have a Utopia - I don't think so. Will the standard of living in the world be increased? Possibly, it depends on the definition. We will all just be equal serfs, living in corporate housing, doing the jobs we are assigned? It isn't raising the standard of living when corporations are allowed to rape and pillage poor countries - getting control of the resources and the poor peope getting no benefit. It isn't raising the standard of living when our corporations destroy the livelihood of small farmers and small business owners. It is good for the corporations as those people, and perhaps their children, will have to then work for the corporations at any wage and in any conditions they decide. Of course, many will make their way to the US, illegally, to work and be cared for by the citizens of this country. That's not a good thing. Iggy, you are so right. The illegals are doing most any job any other citizens would do. Remember all the flap when it was learned so many baggage handlers and screeners were illegals? They have found illegals working in sensitive military manufacturing. They are working in schools, for cities, in banks, doctor's offices, real estate - and in Texas it is commonly known they are the construction industry. They are also starting small businesses in this country. The thing about the illegals, they are playing the system for all it's worth. They work, pay almost no payroll taxes, therefore little can be verified as to their income. They continue to take social services, and church charity, even when they begin making money. Corporations and their politicians, LaRaza, and others who stand to gain are putting out a lot of misinformation. While declaring false figure for the number here, that they don't know where they are, who they are - in Texas, the tried to tell us they know just how much illegals spend on the Texas lottery.