Route to Recovery
A trip through the epicenters of the recession
America’s Route to Recovery: Part Two – A New Revolution
For the Reuters multimedia project Route to Recovery, a team of journalists toured America to examine the impact of the recession and posted their reports on reuters.com. For the last installment in the series, reporter Nick Carey has written an extended overview of the challenges and opportunities facing the country. The second part of this three-part report is below. Click here for part one.
Leslie Taito is executive director of Rhode Island Manufacturing Extension Services (RIMES), a nonprofit that provides consultation for small and medium-sized manufacturers in Rhode Island, a state of 1 million people.
Rhode Island was the home of America’s first mechanized cotton mill, but since Taito arrived 16 years ago, the number of manufacturers here has fallen to 1,945 from 2,800. Still, she believes that all of those that are left can be helped to survive and thrive — and the best way is to get smart and not try to compete with low-cost Chinese producers.
“Manufacturers have to specialize and find a niche where they develop high-end goods that are not sold just based on cost,” Taito said. “Sure, China can make it cheaper than we can,” she said, while weaving in and out of traffic en route through the heart of Providence. “But what they don’t have is the design or engineering capabilities that we do.”
Four years after Katrina, high-cost insurance dogs Gulf Coast
GULFPORT, Mississippi – It’s been more than four years since Hurricane Katrina lifted the casino barges of this Gulf Coast town at the end of August 2005 and dumped them on the shore, yet locals complain they are still paying a high financial price for that cataclysmic event.
The problem this area faces comes to one that is global – a lack of available credit – and one that is entirely local – a lack of available insurance.
“Insurance is a big issue here,” said Brian Sanderson, president of the Gulf Coast Business Council. “This has been a huge challenge to developing this area to its full potential.”
In Austin’s office property market, waiting for something to happen
AUSTIN, Texas – Chris Perry says that virtually everything that is wrong with Austin’s office property market is global.
“The problems we’re facing are not local in the making,” said Perry, a realtor at AQUILA Commercial, LLC.
The freezing up of the credit markets following the implosion of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 plus the virtual collapse of the global financial sector have left this market in suspended animation. That’s occurred even though Austin has lower unemployment than the national average and none of the structural problems of northern industrial cities like Detroit.
Struggling against the stigma of unemployment
BELLA VISTA, Arkansas – Until he lost his job back in August, Jimi Nash, 32, had not given a job interview since he left high school. Now, the tile worker is willing to take any job he can get.
“If I have to I’ll take a job making donuts. It’s tough to lower myself to that level. But a job’s a job,” he said in his home in Bella Vista. “Since I lost my job I have had bouts of depression and I have felt worthless.”
Jimi, his wife Jamie and their two daughters moved here last year from Arizona because work dried up as the housing crisis killed off construction projects where Jimi could lay tiles.
It is always good to have faith in God.He never kips his debt with Him,pays back.
Here in the small town of India ,eating out is always frowned upon.Almost every body eats at home and may be not getting quality food at eating joints,and also not having enough money always we have developed a habit of eating at home.
Though I am living single I prefer to have food from my brother’s home and I pay expenses for my parents living with him and my food.This helps his family to boost his income.
Austin feels the economy’s pain, but to a lesser degree
AUSTIN, Texas — To an outside observer, it seems Austin has taken a light hit from the recession.
Unemployment here was only 7.2 percent in September, compared with a national average of 9.8 percent and 8.2 percent in the state of Texas.
“As bad as our unemployment numbers are by our standards, we have been quite lucky compared to much of the rest of the country,” said Dave Porter, senior vice president for economic development at the Austin Chamber of Commerce.
“According to Angelou, Austin’s growth has in large part been based on an inflow of people from elsewhere. “For meaningful growth we need more people to come here,” he said.”
This economist must be an Aggie. Only Aggies state the obvious and consider it enlightening.
Jonh
Imperial Valley strives to be small-scale renewable energy capital
EL CENTRO, California – At a time when alternative energy and “green jobs” have become a significant talking point under the administration of Barack Obama, Imperial Valley is pushing to make it a reality.
The Valley –- which locals in this part of southern California also call Imperial County — already has 10 geothermal plants in operation with a combined capacity of around 330 megawatts. Geothermal energy, extracting power from underground heat, is a constant and sustainable form of generating electricity.
“This is going to be a great opportunity for the Imperial Valley,” which has a high unemployment rate, said Mark Gran, vice president of community relations at CalEnergy. “We’re going to be the renewable energy capital of the world.”
Potential geothermal or other renewable energy projects need to go through a lengthy approval process. But Imperial County officials have streamlined that process to help companies get permits far quicker, in particular for power plants under 50 megawatts. The state of California has more say in larger projects and has a reputation for being a stickler for due process.
I like this “Amtrak- road to recovery” feature. It is a clever, useful and integral way for Amtrak to get the word out about its services while providing useful news and interesting stories. I wish Verizon and its ilk were that clever and willing to participate in a more up-to-date pluralistic fashion.
The most unemployed town in America — or is it?
If you’re looking for ground zero in America’s longest and deepest recession, El Centro in southern California appears on first glance to fit the bill.
The unemployment rate here and for the whole of Imperial County hit 30.1 percent in September, the highest rate in the United States. Locals say there is no denying that El Centro has suffered as a result of the recession and that jobs are more scarce in an area where agriculture is the backbone of the community and forms 25 percent of the local economy.
“We’ve always had high unemployment, but nothing like this,” said Judith Klein-Pritchard, director of the Center for Family Solutions of Imperial Valley, which provides intervention for domestic violence and shelter services in the area.
However, officials like El Centro city manager Ruben Duran say the jobless numbers don’t tell the full story.
i think the numbers are certainly skewed. but overall it does seem like an unfortunate situation. the government has lots of other things on it’s plate to deal with and I think if they want help, they’re going to have to be loud about getting government help. the loudest usually get their way in this world, and with a long queue of things-to-do for the federal government, i think dealing with this county is fairly low down on this list.
Beginning at El Centro
When planning for a trip across America that would both take in a broad swath of territory and also highlight some of the worst and best spots in the U.S. economy today, El Centro in southern California was a no-brainer.
Not only is El Centro located in one of the states worst affected by the housing crisis and the recession – California faces a major fiscal crisis and was reduced earlier this year to paying its bills with IOUs – but it is in Imperial County, which has the country’s highest unemployment rate.
As of September, the jobless rate in this county down by the Mexican border stood at 30.1 percent. Even taking into account the fact that much of the workforce here is seasonally employed in the agricultural sector, that is an astounding number.
At least you can get good huevos rancheros and chile rellanos in El Centro while you see Cher’s birthplace.
But, Imperial Cty, which is in the Desert therefore dependent on irrigation water drawn from the Colorrado River, has had to “give” much of it’s Colorado water allocation to San Diego Cty, which is on the Pacific. This has forced many farms in the Nation’s “Salad Bowl” to go fallow (stop planting). And, cost factors and explosive golf course growth in the Desert have caused the grape growers and others to “off-shore” their farming operations into Baja California Norte (Mexico). Where they’re getting the water is a guess because We (the US) have stolen Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation ‘fair n’ square’.
What’s in your mouth, America?
I’ll take “illegal immigration”, thank you very much.
Introducing the Route to Recovery
It would be an understatement to say America has had a tough time lately. After many heady boom years, the bursting of America’s housing bubble led to the near meltdown of the global financial system and the longest, deepest recession since the 1930s.
The downturn some have called the Great Recession began in December 2007 and may already be ending. But U.S. unemployment stands at nearly 10 percent, and much of the economy’s growth has been fueled by government spending in programs like Cash for Clunkers and the first-time home buyer’s credit.
The trillion-dollar question for America is whether the growth of the past quarter is sustainable. Reuters will be attempting to find out this month, in a cross-country trip through the epicenters of the recession and the recovery. Reporter Nick Carey, photographers Brian Snyder, Lucy Nicholson and Carlos Barria, and Reuters TV producer Sharon Reich will be on the road for three weeks starting on Nov 3.
Commercial realestate has crashed in arizona my house was in an excellent location.Not now.You cant even give away downtown prime central phoenix realestate.The vultures are everywhere wanting something for nothing.The government should have let the too big to fail banks fail.Im losing my home and they have no real help.I didnt even pay much for my home but will lose it.I got a home loan modification which is reported negatively on my credit.But no help on horizon to consolidate my loans to survive.ITS EITHER GONNA SELL OR ITS GOING TO THE AUCTION SO BOTH BANKS CAN SHARE IN MY JOY!
I read one comment saying that their 2 children on graduation will have $100K in education debts.
Here in Sweden we can study right thru university completely free of charge, and even get a very generous monthly allowance to help with books and food etc etc