The Daily Feather — Small Town, Huge Sinkhole

Population 923, Daisetta is a (very) small town in Liberty County, in an eastern corner of the state of Texas. The 369 households and 269 families easily recount the origin of the town’s name – a combination of past residents, Daisy Barrett and Etta White. But it’s geology that sets the town apart as Daisetta sits atop a salt dome. In 1969, 1981 and 2008, sinkholes formed in the area. The 1981 sinkhole, which grew out of its smaller 1969 counterpart, was thought to have formed from a collapse in the salt dome and is now a lake. As for what came to pass in 2008, while a mystery, there are suspicions that it stemmed from a company drilling oil out of the area. Until earlier this month, that sinkhole had been dormant for 15 years. As reported by NPR, residents said it took out several more acres on April 2. The hungry earth consumed a vacant building and several storage tanks.

The crazy thing about Daisetta is the years that frame its sinkhole activity. Cycle chasers know the calendar years 1969, 1981 and 2008 correspond to nasty U.S. recessions. Is this latest awakening a sign that the present cycle’s days can be counted back to arrive at the Federal Reserve’s launching of policies designed to end zero interest rates and Quantitative Easing?