Economy? Your Area Please.

[Jimbeaux]

The economy in my city and state, thank God, is still sound. Baton Rouge is in the nation's top ten real estate markets. Forclosures are at .035% and retail spending in the city for February is up 5% ($500,000,000). This is due to several factors. I am well aware this could go tits up at anytime.

How are things holding up in your communities as compared to the overall picture?

[Martial Arts Man]

Do we have statistics like this in the UK?

I'd be interested to see them if we do....

[B17NNS]

Staffordshire here.

Main city (if you can call it that) Stoke has been on its arse for years. Used to be a reasonable area as employment was good mainly provided by mining and the pottery industry.

We all know what happened to mining and pottery went the same way a long time ago so lots of semi-skilled hard working people but no jobs. Major employers in the area (JCB) are shedding jobs by the thousands. The city is run down, has a sad depressed feel to it and is generally unsightly and not a nice place to spend time.

And the (Labour) council continues to do sweet fk all about any of it,

A two bed terrace in the poorer areas can be had for around £50k but it might as well be 50p as nobody can afford them.

[Jimbeaux]

Martial Arts Man said:

Do we have statistics like this in the UK?

I'd be interested to see them if we do....

Not sure; do you? I suppose as we are different states, it is more common to have diverse economies as opposed to a more centralized approach such as the UK (or not). Perhaps our group of states is more comparative to the EU nations as a whole.

Edited by Jimbeaux on Sunday 22 March 14:59

[baz1985]

There is now a statutory duty on local authorities to conduct local economic assessments.

[Jimbeaux]

baz1985 said:

There is now a statutory duty on local authorities to conduct local economic assessments.

I wonder if these would be legitimate or "tweaked" to look favorable? How "local" are we talking?

[RDMcG]

Ontario Canada. Was the centre of manufacturing for the country with a lot of automotive manufacturing. Ontario is doing worse than the rest of the country, with unemployment heading for 8%. Housing market not so bad..down about 5-7%, but super mortgages were not allowed here, nor is interest tax deductible, so less of a bubble when it went wrong. Likely more bad news to come here.

[ianash]

Jimbeaux said:

The economy in my city and state, thank God, is still sound. Baton Rouge is in the nation's top ten real estate markets. Forclosures are at .035% and retail spending in the city for February is up 5% ($500,000,000). This is due to several factors. I am well aware this could go tits up at anytime.

How are things holding up in your communities as compared to the overall picture?

I imagine things in Baton Rouge are buoyant due to the refugees from the last couple of Hurricane strikes in New Orleans. I'm a Director of a company in Lake Charles and things are pretty tough down there. I hope you manage to ride the storm, but I wouldn't hold your breath that the slump won't hit you.

In the UK things are already going pretty pear shaped and likely to continue to decline for some considerable time to come.

[Colonial]

I'm 1.5hours north of Sydney in Oz

Our housing market has dipped by around 5% but is actually increasing, especially at the cheaper end of the market. More and more people are buying again.

Unemployment is still around, but it could be a lot worse.

I think it will get worse, but considering a few key differences, the main one being a fundamental undersupply of land, we might make it through ok.

[Prof Beard]

University applications are up.

[Jimbeaux]

ianash said:

Jimbeaux said:

The economy in my city and state, thank God, is still sound. Baton Rouge is in the nation's top ten real estate markets. Forclosures are at .035% and retail spending in the city for February is up 5% ($500,000,000). This is due to several factors. I am well aware this could go tits up at anytime.

How are things holding up in your communities as compared to the overall picture?

I imagine things in Baton Rouge are buoyant due to the refugees from the last couple of Hurricane strikes in New Orleans. I'm a Director of a company in Lake Charles and things are pretty tough down there. I hope you manage to ride the storm, but I wouldn't hold your breath that the slump won't hit you.

In the UK things are already going pretty pear shaped and likely to continue to decline for some considerable time to come.

I will be at a conference in the casino in Lake Charles in early May; you know, the massive one thaqt is difficult to pronounce. The refugees were skint before coming here form that part of New Orleans. Now, the corporate HQ relocations and building boom has helped and is still going well. We also have a robust biomedical resaerch center, the Universities, oil, gas, and nuclear production along with a mahoosive chemical industry. When we do get slammed, hopefully it will be tempered.

[juice]

Bermuda - Local Government runs the country overseen by a Governor. Politics divisive and racially motivated. Govt have been in power since 97 and have used to opportunity not to better the country but to right some perceived wrongs (see any parallels here ?).

Allegations of financial wrong doing, Attourney General's last audit was surrounded by controversy where it was alleged that a certain MP prevented his dept from co-operating with the AG in his audit.

Economy relies in Intl Business, and the local govt is caught in balancing a protectionist stance of finding employment for Bermudians versus creating an environment for IB to flourish (low taxes, ease of work permits etc). The economy has overheated massively in the last few years meaning great prosperity for Bermudians but also has put pressure on the local Real Estate market as a few expats get a housing allowance and allied with US taxation laws meant they were allowed to offset the cost of rental against their tax bill (capped at 94K I think) meaning that they weren't too fussed about the cost of rent - leading to a boom in rental prices, greed and pricing of local Bermudians out of the market - leading to a lot of resentment and generalistions about expats in general.

Expats (about 10% of workforce) are vilified generally, there are 6 year terms limits and unless you are designated as a key employee (i.e. essential to the further continuation of the business) after 6 years, that's it. Key Employees are generally exempt from term limits

This rambling post sort of sets the scene to where BDA is now. There's a head in the sand, everything will be alright attitude at the moment, but many companies are redomiciling due to favorable taxation in other jurisdictions, the threat of the Obama "Offshore" bill and the attitude of the govt to IB here. Its starting to be shown as a softening in the rental market, and many honest hardworking Bermudians are now starting to see redundancies, their properties remaining unlet (or a massive drop c40% in the rental value) and they are not happy...

I fear it is going to go pear-shaped here...

Edited by juice on Monday 23 March 00:43

[Jimbeaux]

juice said:

Bermuda - Local Government runs the country overseen by a Governor. Politics divisive and racially motivated. Govt have been in power since 97 and have used to opportunity not to better the country but to right some perceived wrongs (see any parallels here ?).

Allegations of financial wrong doing, Attourney General's last audit was surrounded by controversy where it was alleged that a certain MP prevented his dept from co-operating with the AG in his audit.

Economy relies in Intl Business, and the local govt is caught in balancing a protectionist stance of finding employment for Bermudians versus creating an environment for IB to flourish (low taxes, ease of work permits etc). The economy has overheated massively in the last few years meaning great prosperity for Bermudians but also has put pressure on the local Real Estate market as a few expats get a housing allowance and allied with US taxation laws meant they were allowed to offset the cost of rental against their tax bill (capped at 94K I think) meaning that they weren't too fussed about the cost of rent - leading to a boom in rental prices, greed and pricing of local Bermudians out of the market - leading to a lot of resentment and generalistions about expats in general.

Expats (about 10% of workforce) are vilified generally, there are 6 year terms limits and unless you are designated as a key employee (i.e. essential to the further continuation of the business) after 6 years, that's it. Key Employees are generally exempt from term limits

This rambling post sort of sets the scene to where BDA is now. There's a head in the sand, everything will be alright attitude at the moment, but many companies are redomiciling due to favorable taxation in other jurisdictions, the threat of the Obama "Offshore" bill and the attitude of the govt to IB here. Its starting to be shown as a softening in the rental market, and many honest hardworking Bermudians are now starting to see redundancies, their properties remaining unlet (or a massive drop c40% in the rental value) and they are not happy...

I fear it is going to go pear-shaped here...

Edited by juice on Monday 23 March 00:43

It is increasingly apparent that nobody will get to sit this game out.