|
The End Is Near Or So "They"
Say 
by
Carl Hampton
11/09/2009
The End is Near, or So “They” Say
Its official, according to the Moody’s economy.com and
MSNBC, the end is near, there really is a light at the end of the tunnel and
we should all be happy to hear that.
What “they” are talking about is the end of the
recession. Most of the so-called experts have seen the light at the end of
that long, narrow tunnel, for some time and there is hope.
After what has seemed like a lifetime but was really
only the better part of two years, can all those hardworking American’s stop
Google-ing budget tips and ways to save a penny or two? Well, if you
believe what “they” say it’s almost over and even more impressive—there is a
timeline. That’s right, there is a paper timeline as to when a specific
state, or even city/metro area, is to be out of the red recession economic
crunch.
St. Louis, Missouri, the Gateway to the West, is a good
example of the good news of progress, their experts say, the city entered
into the recession in December 2008, but-now- is considered to be “in
recovery”. But what do the words “in recovery” mean, besides my personal
love of “quotation marks”?
How did Moody’s economy.com and MSNBC come to these
conclusions, well they have graphed what they call an adversity index. This
handy bit of knowledge and technology measures the economic health of 381
metro areas as well as in each of the 50 states, each area is labeled as to
one of 4 categories, recession, at risk, recovering, or expanding.
Recently they have released an interactive map online
that shows the current condition of major cities, like St. Louis. This map
has labeled St. Louis as “in recovery”, now that’s rather impressive given
the following information.
While employment is still down (as of Aug 2009) -3.75%,
and housing is down too, by 11.53%. These experts are saying that if these
numbers are put together with all of the other information then by the 1st
quarter of 2010 St. Louis should officially be out of the recession.
Things seem to be shaping up, with the daily costs to
live in St. Louis lower than the national average and the lower cost of
having a business there, St.Louis and the rest of the Midwest and Great
Plains States are leading the way for the great American recovery. In fact,
as of August 2009, the recession has officially ended in one fifth of
American major cities, specifically the Midwest and the Great Plains
It should be remembered that we were in a hole that we
had so expertly dug for ourselves. Everyone knew we were living far above
our means, yet we just kept spending, buying cars we really did not need and
homes we could never hope to keep. The really big question here is, while
this is good news for our pocketbooks, wallets, and state of mind, are we
going to keep current on what we’ve learned, are we going to stay frugal and
stay on the side of caution and good economic judgment are we going to stop
over spending, or are we going to throw caution to the wind and over spend
again. God Bless America.
“Your” Money Matters By Carl Hampton
From the Author of “From
Credit Despair To Credit Millionaire”
read more...
|
