Economist's Optimistic Outlook for Tampa (Jacksonville, Miami: lease, homes, to buy)

[stpeteguy]

It's not getting better yet.

Unemployment is still at 10% officially and nearly double that when you consider those not officially counted by the governments skewed numbers.

Many economists say unemployment is a lagging indicator, and traditionally that is true, when it's less than 5%

However when those numbers are 20%, it's a lot different.

It is no longer a lagging indicator, it is a leading indicator.

think about that for a minute. The American economy is 70% consumer spending, yet 20% of the population is unemployed/underemployed. How is that be a recovery?

Wall street investment banks have recovered and are doing well. If that makes you feel better, then you have that to look forward to I geuss.


Maybe i'm just being overly pessimistic. I mean, afterall, these economists have great track records when it comes to the economy..............oops.......nevermind.

[SteveMax58]

Originally Posted by stpeteguy

think about that for a minute. The American economy is 70% consumer spending, yet 20% of the population is unemployed/underemployed. How is that be a recovery?

Yeah, this is why we really need energy policy to fuel (no pun intended) our economic success moving forward. Consumerism will follow once people have something for those 20% of people to do. But what we need our illustrious leaders to do is reduce the money we send out of the country by funding a nationwide comprehensive energy independence initiative.

Just my 2 cents (which is worth about 1.65 cents now).

[housingcrashsurvivor]

Florida's jobless rate hits record, Tampa fares better

"...Florida's rate edged up to 12.3 percent in March. The Tampa Bay area's rate improved in March, although it remained higher than the state rate...

...The Tampa Bay area, which includes Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas and Hernando counties, had a March unemployment rate of 12.7 percent. That's down from 13.2 percent in February...

...The national unemployment rate remained unchanged at 9.7 percent in March..."

[Sunscape]

So at least it's improving. Slowly but it will get better.

[FloridaKash]

As the rest of the country's economy gets better, so will Tampa's. Florida may want to consider doing more to entice businesses to move to Florida.

[housingcrashsurvivor]

Originally Posted by AlaskaKash

As the rest of the country's economy gets better, so will Tampa's. Florida may want to consider doing more to entice businesses to move to Florida.

Like improve the infrastructure?

Tampa International Airport to try incentives to lure more international flights - St. Petersburg Times

"...Former airport boss Louis Miller detested airline incentives...

...Miller's longtime deputy at Tampa International and earlier in Salt Lake City, Wheat wants to come out on top when the board picks a full-time executive director after a national search. He's telling people incentives can work, provided the business community pitches in.

Airlines increasingly demand that communities pay to play..."

washingtonpost.com

"Tampa to Orlando will take less than an hour, or 35 percent faster than by car...

...The biggest grants went to Florida ($1.25 billion), which plans to use 168 mph trains to link Orlando to Tampa by 2014 and to Miami by 2017..."

HART narrows light rail potential routes to 6

"All of the proposed north-south alignments would serve the University of South Florida and two of three would serve Busch Gardens.

The east-west alignments would terminate in West Shore at a bus transit center to be built at Obrien and Spruce streets on Tampa International Airport property by 2011.

Various downtown alignments continue to be reviewed, but light rail routes will be designed to serve the proposed high speed rail station south of where Interstates 275 and 4 meet."

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/dec/04/041903/officials-hope-follow-other-cities-experiences-lig/

Advocates also cite community gains in real estate development and higher property values near stations and along corridors, as well as enhanced competition for economic development.

"One is giving people an alternative to congestion in driving cars to reach downtown areas, educational facilities and other activity centers. The other is a strong economic development."

Investments in development have popped up along light-rail lines, Cambridge Systematics reported

[ozlo]

Choco rations are up. Doubleplus good!

[FloridaKash]

Good to see the are building infrastructure, that should surely help out the city. Oh wait, they aren;t building yet. They're just talking about building it. Seattle finally has light rail, after debating whether it should be a monorail or light rail, where it should go, etc. for only 25 years. It looks like Tampa might be moving much faster though. I sure hope so.

[ozlo]

Originally Posted by AlaskaKash

Good to see the are building infrastructure, that should surely help out the city. Oh wait, they aren;t building yet. They're just talking about building it. Seattle finally has light rail, after debating whether it should be a monorail or light rail, where it should go, etc. for only 25 years. It looks like Tampa might be moving much faster though. I sure hope so.

About 10 years ago the people voted to have light rail built in central Florida, yet there was supposedly no way to fund it. Until recently...the state somehow found the funding for it (had to cut back on the governor's makeup budget). So they may actually be taking some action soon -- hiring a foreign owned construction company and hundreds of illegals to build something that by the time it's done will probably be too expensive for the average person to travel on to a place they don't care to go anyway.

[Whu]

Hello, Shores9.