Up, Down and Around Our Town

Evidently, I wasn't the only one who had seen enough of Billy Mays. Perhaps it was the last one when he was hawking yet another piece of goo that can survive tornadic winds. His wind is worse than anyone's. And, as many others wrote, let's dispense with the endless weight-loss performances. I might add that you could put most of the reality shows in the same category. Good start to a good year.

And, as William Jefferson Clinton said so boldly a few years ago, "it's the economy, stupid." And so it goes. We are now really starting to see the effects of the down economy in some of the more subtle ways. The connectivity of the symptoms point out that the Obama administration will truly have its work cut out for itself once they take office. Perhaps the biggest worry is simply, "where do we start?"

The downhill struggle, of course, started with the price of energy. Add the greed of the lenders to the mix and we created the housing problem. Call in the debts from that debacle and we started to see the problems with the auto industry. Thrown Christmas in the mix and the return on investment didn't come close to fixing the bigger problem. So, where are we today?

The housing industry may actually be leading the way. Realistic home prices will find a market medium, lenders will play by the rules, regulation from the Feds will put some transparency in their work and people will actually see a realistic appreciation on property rather than treating their home like a Vegas crap table. That's the essence of risk. Not to mention the fact that getting the overpriced and foreclosed inventory off the market benefits everyone except the poor sap who couldn't afford the mortgage in the first place. Risk again. Reward received.

However, the real area of concern is in employment. We are seeing unemployment now in excess of 8% and the ability to find the 2.5 million jobs that have been eliminated due to the down economy will be difficult. Can government play a role? Certainly. But, it will take a lot of private investment to pull this off as well. One of the economic lessons that have yet to be learned (again) is that you actually have to either make something or provide a service that can be put to the marketplace and command a market price. No more-no less. The "roaring 90's" are over. Getting back to zero is the goal for many in 2009.

Then comes the part from the neck up. Old Jimmy Carter used to talk of the depression of talking in poor terms. Yet, when jobs are lost, productivity is lost. Productivity lost equates to profit lost and with no profit there are no jobs. Restoring consumer confidence is an area that the Obama folks have identified as a key indicator and we couldn't agree more. The "myth of thrift" comes into play once again. When consumers don't buy, producers don't produce. The savings become insignificant because the purchasing power is lost. A healthy dose of credit (dare we say debt) is a good thing for many folks.

What we learned in 2008 was the abuse of credit is the real crime and permeates throughout the entire economy.

On the local arena, the circus known as the Blagojevic impeachment now is in its second act. The House wasted no time in sending their message that (a) he's dirty, (b) he's arrogant and (c) he thinks he is above the law. Now the show heads to the Senate and if things go well, he'll be gone as Governor by the middle of February. Then and only then will the economy of Illinois start to regenerate. His presence is a sad chapter and his impeachment is the best news of the new year. Get this idiot out of public office and send him to time-out. Now.

With the pending retirement of Senator Kit Bond of Missouri, look for lots of politicking to occur in the Show-Me state. The longstanding GOP member has an impressive slate of accomplishments and this void will send ripples from Lone Jack to Revere.

The seed catalogs arrived, restoring faith that spring isn't too far away and I got my personal invitation (along with 50,000 of my closest friends) to the annual Golf Show in St. Louis. Just what you need to do - throw a hacker free admission to something that he doesn't need, doesn't have time to attend, but probably will do anyway just because we still dream with a 3-wood.

Our trip to Michigan Avenue was wonderful, as always and we even had a chance to reconnect with our niece and her husband, Comcast Sports Reporter Josh Mora. His coverage of the Ivy on Ice Hockey game at Wrigley was even better once we heard the details. Plus, they look great and it had been too long between visits. Michigan Avenue is changing; no more Virgin Records, no more Pottery Barn and (God Forbit) no more Cheesecake Factory. XXI, Victoria's Secret and Best Buy now occupy that prime space. Even the Magnificent Mile isn't immune from change.

And, speaking of the Moras', head to your neighborhood Borders and pick up a copy of their Children's Book entitled "The Magic Uniform". Written by Josh and all of the artwork is from Allison, including some nice likenesses of my own brother. A great story and the proceeds go to some great charities. Ah, to have that type of talent in the gene pool that just totally evaded my side of the DNA.

We even managed to work the flu into our week off. I don't recommend it and most of all, it robbed us of an evening or two of smiles from my new hero. But, we did reconnect, she did her thing to restore my faith and her comedian big brother continues to make all of us proud. A Christmas gift that just keeps giving.

We'll reconnect with the Yutes of America this week as the descend back to the Harvard on the Hill. Fact is, we miss them. My thoughts are that those feelings are reciprocal. We'll find out.

So, drop us a note if we hit on something worth discussing; if not, have a great week. We'll be here, as always and till then, I remain.....