I see marginal improvements in NYC area

i thought this was directed at the GFY'ers who were insisting that Hallond, Italy and Germany are not in recession - and are more qualified to make that statement because they live there. :(

I see dollar climbing from 1.19 to 1.10 to the Euro,
first time since April
;-)

it's down and flat down under..

At least the AU dollar seems to have settled at a "reasonable" level to US$ about .66us to au$1

North Carolina economy stinks. Last week Pillowtex facility in NC closed its doors and like 4k people lost their job. We have been interviewing for low level office positions and had folks with degrees willing to work for almost nothing.

China is sucking manufacturing jobs...
I wonder what Bush gonna do to win re-election

I would like to see a slump here in the UK so the dollar can make up some points against the pound...

Nothing too major but a little slump would be nice :D

China is sucking manufacturing jobs...
I wonder what Bush gonna do to win re-election[/b][/quote]

Elizabeth Dole.. Bob Dole's wife is the congresswoman in the area the facility was closed in. She is a republican in a district that is losing jobs like their is no tomorrow. Oddly enough I haven't seen much of her lately. I wouldn't want to be in charge of her next campaign.

Elizabeth Dole.. Bob Dole's wife is the congresswoman in the area the facility was closed in. She is a republican in a district that is losing jobs like their is no tomorrow. Oddly enough I haven't seen much of her lately. I wouldn't want to be in charge of her next campaign.[/b][/quote]
women should stay out of politics and tend to the kitchen needs more often
;-)))

I imagine she wants to stay out of the house as much as possible.. Remember old Bob Dole did those Viagra commercials. He probably got a life time supply for free. Got to love a guy who talks about himself in the third person.

Serge does it all the time
;-)))

Serge does it all the time
;-)))[/b][/quote]
:biglaugh:

I live in an agricultural area, but these are small operations. Viturally everyone works an outside job in addition to farming. The "good" economic news around here is that there hasn't been a plant closing in the last several months.

Other than that, it's flat. That may be because we tend to show the signs of a downturn first, and don't see the effects of a recovery until late.

Economy is still tough here, Still record foreclosures. But also record home sales with low interest rates.

Brad, mortgage rates moved in the last months, from 4 to 6%,
where have you been?

The Kansas City economy seems to be ok at the present....

But that changes every time that Sprint mentions the possibility of layoffs.

Enough defense related stuff going on to keep it somewhat humming...

Once being the "mini silicon valley", the Austin economy still sucks. Tech companies are still laying people off, jobs hard to come by, foreclosures at all time records, and high-end real-estate market is stagnant!
Yet, new housing starts are at a 25 year high! Go figure.....

All is fine in Sin City......
new housing still on the rise, seemingly endless construction boom, but no new "megaresorts" planned any time soon....so all those 3000+ moving here every month will eventually start taking jobs at the Oceran Spray plant and/or the Levi Strauss facility....or those damn Californians will continue to come in and buy up all the new homes and drive up costs.....

Let's see...

We have a 38 billion dollar deficit.

Our bonds now have junk status.

Our annual car registration was just tripled.

We are about to recall our governor and elect either:

The Termaintor
Arnold from Diffrent Strokes
A Porn Star
A Porn mogul
A retired baseball commissioner

Unemployment is at an all time high.

Illegal immigration continues to suck billions out of the coffers with no light at the end of the tunnel.

I would say all in all, it sucks.

Serge, interest lates are still "low". Dallas is having record homes sales, as rates go up, people are hurring up and buying before they hit 7+.

http://www.hsh.com/hsh36mocht.html

Have to agree with Brad on that... I dont think you will see a real real slow down in the housing (specially new starts) until that interest rate gets quite a bit higher....

When I bought my house back in 2000, I thought I was getting a deal at 8.275%... Refied all the way down to below 6% and now feel like I'm getting a GREAT deal.....

I bought my first ever totally brand new vehicle in 1978 at a reduced rate of 11%.... The condo got bought in 91 or 92 on a reduced rate of around 10%....

That we are seeing interest rates so low is still a wonder to me.... There are meany people out there who have sat back waiting for the bottom before doing anything.... It has hit bottom and its on the way back up... I think we will see a lot of folks trying to jump in before they are back up in the double digits....

The first house I bought in 1983 was at 16%. I remember thinking it was a great deal because a year or so earlier it was 18%.

After that house, the next one was at 12% and I thought I had hit the lottery.

Next one 10% and again - that was awesome.

This one is 6.8% :bjump:

While Porn is thriving in Seattle...Boeing is laying off..Microsoft is thinking, once again, about leaving..

Interest rates are at 5.25%...tech jobs continue to suffer....and our unemployment is higher than it's been in years...

New houses are going up like crazy...and strip malls are being built at a dizzying rate.

Yep. I agree with bpj... Autin economy sucks ass.
Once impossible to get into without a reservation restaurants are now open and waiting on friday nights at prime time..
Office space rents are half of what they were a year ago.
Slips at the yacht club that were on a 1 year waiting list 2 years ago are now sitting vacant..
And as bpj mentioned... high end real estate isnt selling.

Pittsburgh has gone from being the 16th largest city in the country to not being in the top 50 in a mere 20 years. There are still a lot of jobs here but most are high tech and require advanced degrees plus experience. Having lived here for 36 years it has been very odd to watch. 800,000 people have left here in the last 20 years. You can work at McDonald's for $8/hr or a robotics lab for $100k/year. There really aren't many jobs in the middle of that spectrum anymore. This use to be the steel capital of the world but there are only a couple of small companies left. I think I'll stop now before I go into a rant about the government idiots and unions that chased them out of town.