Breaking News On CNN (2 posts)

|
  • Profile picture of catpaw catpaw said 4 months, 2 weeks ago:

    The Dow reached 14,000 a little while ago. And slid back to 13,990-something. It’s creeping back up now. There was no fanfare or cheering on the floor. The record is 14,162 (my recollection), set before 9/11. During the horrific slide into economic depression it was below 6,000.
    While the stock market numbers are a significant indication of the economy, it is but one. The realities of Wall Street don’t necessarily reflect the realities of Main Street. But the surge is credited to optimism of the jobs report. Despite that, we still have 12 million unemployed.

    | #
  • Profile picture of think4yourself think4yourself said 4 months, 2 weeks ago:

    I’m no economist, but what I suspect is that our economy is evolving and some geographic areas and economic sectors are slower to recover than others. The puplic sector and service sectors are still being hit pretty hard. I suspect there is still quite a bit of job loss still in the public and non profit sector due mostly to budget cuts. Its a scary time right now for non profits and non emergency government agencies. Business is picking up however in the private sector-particularly in sectors such as health care, energy, and construction (with the infrastructure projects nation wide). Kern County is ACTUALLY prospering compared to most of the state due in part to the fact that we have more of an industry based economy and are less dependent on service sector and government jobs here. I guess you can say we actually produce GOODS OF WORTH here. For better or for worse, we are also much more business friendly here. Kern County is doing SOMETHING right. We still have a lot to work on. I think in order to attract businesses to an area, there has to be a capable labor pool. Kern County’s high school drop out rate is still unacceptable.Where we HAVE been successful is in the vast number of vocational programs available here. My concern is that BC is wanting to move away from these programs and focus more on degree programs. While that may look good for them on paper (graduation rates), its inconsistent with the needs of our local economy.

    | #