What is this?

I was born in 1977, lived in a house my parents built for a few months. Jobs changed, and I lived in Austin, TX for a few years in a place my parents bought. 1980, jobs changed and we moved to Colorado Springs, where we lived for a bit in a place my parents bought. Parents split, house sold, lived for a while in a house that was rented. Situation changed, moved to a house my mother bought in '87. Things changed, move to California to live with my father in '92. Hit the age of majority in 95 and rented a room for several years in a house rented with others. Hit an apartment complex at the beginning of '99. Another in mid-2002. Landed in my current apartment a couple months ago.

So, context aside, here's my query:

I've seen more furniture, seen more neighbors carting off bags of stuff to the dumpster, etc. in the last couple weeks than any other time in my life. When you try to take out the regular trash every week and find the dumpsters full of furniture, is that just a quirk of the locality, or is it an indicator about how fucked-up the economy is getting?