How are you feeling about the economy these days? It’s certainly been a lot of gloomy news these past few weeks, especially if you watch the stock market much! Of course, the stock market isn’t the economy, but it certainly reacts to the economy, and many people seem to use it as a proxy for judging the health of the economy. With all the news about bank failures and takeovers, the bailout, foreclosures, and all the other national news, it’s pretty clear that America is in for some tough times. But how bad do you think it will get?
In my personal interactions, I’m hearing some people talk in apocalyptic terms, wondering if this could be either the beginning of a new Great Depression or even the beginning of the end of the world as we know it. I enjoy listening to the radio show “Marketplace” on NPR, and this week, they had a very interesting article on how many Christians see the recent economic events as sign of the coming “Rapture.” The fact that the Dow dropped 777 points one day fueled the flames of that discussion. It’s a great piece — click the link and either read it or listen to it.
So, I want to know what you think is coming. How bad is the situation for America? You may not think it’s financial Armageddon, but could it be a depression? Or a serious recession? And how do you think Utah will fare in this downturn? We’ve had an economy outpacing the nation for a number of years now, and it still is. But it’s slowly grinding to a halt; the Tribune and Deseret News both reported today that Utah’s job growth is slowing to almost nothing. Soon, it will probably begin to go negative compared to a year ago.
We’re also seeing foreclosure rates in Utah that have risen very quickly this year. This is surprising to me, because I thought Utah was late enough to the housing boom that we weren’t going to see as much of a “bubble” here as in other states. But Utah ranked 12th in the nation for foreclosure rates last month. What do you think? Do we have much of a housing bubble here in Utah?
Post your comments, and let’s start a discussion about all of this. I’m eager to read your thoughts.