ragerunner

I was just about to post this one. I hope he is right. My struggles with this is the unemployment rate continues to rise currently. I also am not sure weather this is a false bottom. There is still a lot of economic turmoil going on in the US and around the world. One indicator may not be sufficient to call a bottom in this economic bust. We shall see.

Standard & Poor's cuts U.K. outlook to negative from stable Sterling, British stocks drop; analysts debate if U.S. is next "LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Standard & Poor's on Thursday lowered its credit outlook on the U.K. to negative from stable for the first time ever in view of the country's swelling debt, which may expand even as the economy recovers." http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sp-cuts-uk-outlook-to-negative-from-stable I think the US will be next. If the current 'bailout bonanza' doesn't hold this kind of cut to the UK credit rating (and potentially the US) may become a huge factor in their/our ability to continue to 'fight' the economic battle.

So true, so sad.

And what's really sad is, despite the voice of the people speaking, the federal government is going to come in and override that voice by bailing out the state of California and absorbing its debt (i.e., time for Ohio to start paying for their mistakes...because its not like we have any of our own). It will be interesting to see if states find similar 'strings' attached to such direct bailout out as the banking industry is finding out. The FEDs are expanding their reach and power by the day.

If the city has awarded contracts, that would be public information and they would have made a press release related to a significate step.

My gut is telling that the fallout and ripple effect of this is going to be very painful for a lot of people and companies. What amazes me is 'Main Street' in general doesn't seemed overly concerned that the government is about to 'buy' a major US company. GM to be bought by the US Government "General Motors Corporation's plan for a bankruptcy filing involves a quick sale of the company's healthy assets to a new company initially owned by the U.S. government, a source familiar with the situation said on Tuesday. The source, who would not be named because he was not cleared to speak with the media, did not specify a purchase price. The new company is expected to honor the claims of secured lenders, possibly in full, according to the source. The remaining assets of GM would stay in bankruptcy protection to satisfy other outstanding claims. ... http://www.current.com/e/http://current.com/items/90076188_gm-to-be-bought-by-the-us-government.htm

The answer to the government employment growth numbers. It's A Good Time To Work For Uncle Sam "President Obama's call last year for "shared sacrifice" doesn't extend to federal employees, at least based on the details of his administration's 2010 budget released this week. At a time when the official unemployment rate is nearing double digits, and 6.35 million people are receiving unemployment benefits, the U.S. government is on a hiring binge. Executive branch employment — 1.98 million in 2009, excluding the Postal Service and the Defense Department — is set to increase by 15.6 percent for the 2010 fiscal year. Most of that is thanks to the Census Bureau hiring 102,000 temporary workers, but not counting them still yields a net increase of 2 percent in one year." http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/05/12/business/econwatch/entry5007862.shtml

I really like having the amusement park right next to downtown instead of out in the suburbs like most US parks. It has a light rail station out front and it gives that 'european' urban park vibe.

I have to agree. It better to put people on Main Street to work with stimulus money, than use it on some of the other 'bailout' programs.

Some beautiful buildings. I really liked the building that had the Hard Rock Cafe in it.

Great pics. Man, you were all over the place today. You clearly out walked me. Its funny that we took some of the same building pics in the highland neighborhood. How are you liking the Denver/Front Range area? Are you just visiting? I have been here for about 4 months and I am liking it more each day. Denver has a lot going for it and so does many of the other front range cities.

If census short term hiring is what the country is 'hanging' its hat on, then we are in trouble. Many of these jobs are just part time and almost all of them are temporary. Maybe we will start doing a yearly, full population count to keep people permanently employed?

Arvada was founded in 1859 and is located northwest of downtown Denver. Its current population is 106,328.

The Highland neighborhood is located west of downtown Denver on a hill overlooking the downtown area. It is a very pedestrian/bicycle oriented area with a multi-modal bridge connecting the neighborhood with downtown. I really liked this area. I also took a few pics of downtown from the neighborhood. Downtown Denver and the pedestrian/bicycle bridge connecting the Highland area to downtown.

Great pics and the weather was really nice as well. Boulder is definitely a very progressive city when its comes to urban development, green build and sustainability. They also have the political support to continue to move forward. Its a mini Portland.

The infrastructure layout (pedestrian environment, mixed use) is actually pretty good. Some of the construction quailty was crappy. It just depended on the builder. Some of the buildings looked better than others. My overall feeling was, this is much better than a giant mall and parking lot.

Belmar is a public/private partnership redevelopment of the old Villa Italia Mall. The redevelopment began in 2002 and includes the development of 22 block street grid on 104 acres in the middle of Lakewood, CO (pop. 144,000). Lakewood is a inner ring suburb on the westside of Denver. The project is about 50% complete at this time with a tenative completion date of 2012. Hopefully more older urban malls will be redeveloped with traditional urban concepts (street grids, pedestrian oriented, mixed use) in the US.

I believe it was 2000.

I think the growth of the community college next to downtown is starting to change the area. I saw several 'college' type stores and hangout places. I did like that most of the businesses were local and not chain stores, it gave the area some uniqueness.

There has been a shift in some areas of Ohio and other places with people moving out of the small towns and to the larger metros. But, we also have had a huge amount of people just moving from one part of a metro to another, with little or no real population growth. This has created sprawl, a fake sense of growth and a poor use of resources.

Actually, Columbine is not in Littleton, its in the county and is not part of the city's school district.

Littleton, Colorado is located southwest of downtown Denver along the C and D light rail lines. It has a current population of about 40,000 and is home to Arapahoe Community College. Community College. Downtown Light Rail Station

It nice to see the main stream media starting to get to the point. On average home prices historically must have some equality with income of the area and rental rates. If this continues to hold true (I think it will) we have a long way to go. Home Prices: Low, But Still No Bargain Forget low mortgage rates and the buyer's market. Real-estate prices still have a long way to fall. "Homeowners are watching anxiously for any signs of housing market stabilization. So, too, are all those who believe the market may hold the key to the economy. And yet the most recent data makes for more gloomy reading. The closely watched Case-Shiller index, which tracks prices across twenty major cities, shows that through January the crash was getting worse, not better. .... http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123853857749575441.html

Here are some 'interesting' quotes from the government and wall street back in the late 1920s and early 1930s. I think some of our leaders are just cutting and pasting. Lets hope the outcome is different. "We will not have any more crashes in our time." - John Maynard Keynes in 1927 "I cannot help but raise a dissenting voice to statements that we are living in a fool's paradise, and that prosperity in this country must necessarily diminish and recede in the near future." - E. H. H. Simmons, President, New York Stock Exchange, January 12, 1928 "There will be no interruption of our permanent prosperity." - Myron E. Forbes, President, Pierce Arrow Motor Car Co., January 12, 1928 "No Congress of the United States ever assembled, on surveying the state of the Union, has met with a more pleasing prospect than that which appears at the present time. In the domestic field there is tranquility and contentment...and the highest record of years of prosperity. In the foreign field there is peace, the goodwill which comes from mutual understanding." - Calvin Coolidge December 4, 1928 "There may be a recession in stock prices, but not anything in the nature of a crash." - Irving Fisher, leading U.S. economist , New York Times, Sept. 5, 1929 "Stock prices have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau. I do not feel there will be soon if ever a 50 or 60 point break from present levels, such as (bears) have predicted. I expect to see the stock market a good deal higher within a few months." - Irving Fisher, Ph.D. in economics, Oct. 17, 1929 "This crash is not going to have much effect on business." - Arthur Reynolds, Chairman of Continental Illinois Bank of Chicago, October 24, 1929 "There will be no repetition of the break of yesterday... I have no fear of another comparable decline." - Arthur W. Loasby (President of the Equitable Trust Company), quoted in NYT, Friday, October 25, 1929 "We feel that fundamentally Wall Street is sound, and that for people who can afford to pay for them outright, good stocks are cheap at these prices." - Goodbody and Company market-letter quoted in The New York Times, Friday, October 25, 1929 "This is the time to buy stocks. This is the time to recall the words of the late J. P. Morgan... that any man who is bearish on America will go broke. Within a few days there is likely to be a bear panic rather than a bull panic. Many of the low prices as a result of this hysterical selling are not likely to be reached again in many years." - R. W. McNeel, market analyst, as quoted in the New York Herald Tribune, October 30, 1929 "Buying of sound, seasoned issues now will not be regretted" - E. A. Pearce market letter quoted in the New York Herald Tribune, October 30, 1929 "Some pretty intelligent people are now buying stocks... Unless we are to have a panic -- which no one seriously believes, stocks have hit bottom." - R. W. McNeal, financial analyst in October 1929 "The decline is in paper values, not in tangible goods and services...America is now in the eighth year of prosperity as commercially defined. The former great periods of prosperity in America averaged eleven years. On this basis we now have three more years to go before the tailspin." - Stuart Chase (American economist and author), NY Herald Tribune, November 1, 1929 "Hysteria has now disappeared from Wall Street." - The Times of London, November 2, 1929 "The Wall Street crash doesn't mean that there will be any general or serious business depression... For six years American business has been diverting a substantial part of its attention, its energies and its resources on the speculative game... Now that irrelevant, alien and hazardous adventure is over. Business has come home again, back to its job, providentially unscathed, sound in wind and limb, financially stronger than ever before." - Business Week, November 2, 1929 "...despite its severity, we believe that the slump in stock prices will prove an intermediate movement and not the precursor of a business depression such as would entail prolonged further liquidation..." - Harvard Economic Society (HES), November 2, 1929 "... a serious depression seems improbable; [we expect] recovery of business next spring, with further improvement in the fall." - HES, November 10, 1929 "The end of the decline of the Stock Market will probably not be long, only a few more days at most." - Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics at Yale University, November 14, 1929 "In most of the cities and towns of this country, this Wall Street panic will have no effect." - Paul Block (President of the Block newspaper chain), editorial, November 15, 1929 "Financial storm definitely passed." - Bernard Baruch, cablegram to Winston Churchill, November 15, 1929 "I see nothing in the present situation that is either menacing or warrants pessimism... I have every confidence that there will be a revival of activity in the spring, and that during this coming year the country will make steady progress." - Andrew W. Mellon, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury December 31, 1929 "I am convinced that through these measures we have reestablished confidence." - Herbert Hoover, December 1929 "[1930 will be] a splendid employment year." - U.S. Dept. of Labor, New Year's Forecast, December 1929 "For the immediate future, at least, the outlook (stocks) is bright." - Irving Fisher, Ph.D. in Economics, in early 1930 "...there are indications that the severest phase of the recession is over..." - Harvard Economic Society (HES) Jan 18, 1930 "There is nothing in the situation to be disturbed about." - Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon, Feb 1930 "The spring of 1930 marks the end of a period of grave concern...American business is steadily coming back to a normal level of prosperity." - Julius Barnes, head of Hoover's National Business Survey Conference, Mar 16, 1930 "... the outlook continues favorable..." - HES Mar 29, 1930 "... the outlook is favorable..." - HES Apr 19, 1930 "While the crash only took place six months ago, I am convinced we have now passed through the worst -- and with continued unity of effort we shall rapidly recover. There has been no significant bank or industrial failure. That danger, too, is safely behind us." - Herbert Hoover, President of the United States, May 1, 1930 "...by May or June the spring recovery forecast in our letters of last December and November should clearly be apparent..." - HES May 17, 1930 "Gentleman, you have come sixty days too late. The depression is over." - Herbert Hoover, responding to a delegation requesting a public works program to help speed the recovery, June 1930 "... irregular and conflicting movements of business should soon give way to a sustained recovery..." - HES June 28, 1930 "... the present depression has about spent its force..." - HES, Aug 30, 1930 "We are now near the end of the declining phase of the depression." - HES Nov 15, 1930 "Stabilization at [present] levels is clearly possible." - HES Oct 31, 1931 "All safe deposit boxes in banks or financial institutions have been sealed... and may only be opened in the presence of an agent of the I.R.S." - President F.D. Roosevelt, 1933 http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_01/seymour062001.html

I guess every place has its positive and negatives. I really am enjoying Colorado. I find it very progressive in its urban and historic preservation movements. The scenery is stunning from the front range westward and I do enjoy the extra sunshine. I guess its all about perspective.