Time to get back to blogging

Time to get back to blogging about the nabe. I had anticipated returning a while back, but in early June my laptop was stolen and it delayed my return a bit. I had to change all my passwords and replace the laptop.

The economic situation is something we should be watching. There have been many changes in our neighborhood. In particular many businesses have closed and many of the ones that are left standing appear to be suffering. Yesterday I was having a conversation with the owner of a local furniture store who informed me that he had an 80% drop in sales as compared to last year. More than a few restaurants have closed their doors and the rest are struggling. One of the regional FED directors exclaimed that the real unemployment rate is closer to 16% since we no longer count people who have given up looking for a job. So what does that portend for our neighborhood and the nation? We will have to see how things develop. It is clear that the stimulus package passed last year only benefited the Big Banks. Will the small banks in our neighborhood survive? The bailout of the car companies did not do much for government owned GM and Ford. The biggest gainers were the Japanese car makers via the cash for clunkers program. Are we going to see 3 and half more years of misguided policies? We will have to stay tuned and see what happens. In the meantime we will have to clip out coupons save money, spend less and hope for the best.