Nov 03 2008
Heard on the street; a current financial pulse.
Owner of small town convenience store (responding to the question “How’s business?”): You know, nobody wants to buy much gas, but the inventory inhouse is flying off the shelves. People don’t want to run down to (the nearby city) anymore. They’d just rather pay a little more to pick it up here.
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City clerk (responding to the question whether we can get a break on the price of gas now that the price of oil has dropped): No, we had to lock in to the rate they set, so if we have to pay more, that’s just the way it is. Who knew it was going to go down? I mean, it could have gone the other way, now couldn’t have it?
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Client (commenting about a mutual co-worker) I don’t know how she’s doing. Her husband’s been laid off, hasn’t he?
Practicioner: I don’t know, where’s he working?
Client: In (local boatmaker) and they just cut two shifts. They are down to only days now. Things will be tight at their house for Christmas, that’s for sure.
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Two months ago, people were so worried about the winter that they were completely sitting. No one was really spending much money, foks in church were discussing the concerns they had about those older folks who couldn’t afford their heating bills. Local big box hardware stores watched people walk out with bundles of insulation, Tyvek and the like. Remodeling was the name of the game.
But then something happened, something people should have expected, but didn’t . After a 100% increase in the price of a barrel of oil, it suddenly went down. Way down.
Then in the upper midwest, another surprise: unseasonably warm weather. While the people up in Alaska griped that they never had much of a summer, and they already have snow on the ground, the Midwest is still basking in days and nights that are warm enough to not even turn on the heater.
That’s good, because what might have brought extreme misery to this area of the country, a harsh winter, has been put off at least thirty days. Last year at this time, we were harboring blizzards every few days. Maybe this year less money will have to spent on snow removal and indooor heating. It’s better for everyone if businesses don’t have additional hardship, if private individuals can tuck away more funds while worrying about their jobs. Maybe the Christmas season won’t be a total loss. Maybe as fast as our financial crisis swept our nation, it will get swept away. It seems like a lot of “maybes” but it can make a huge difference in our nation’s economy.
We can only hope.
