Recovery? Or calm before the storm? Ask 100 people that question, and you may be split down the middle with answers. After getting torched in 2008 and 2009, it seems that the green sprouts of economic life are peeking through the forrest floor again. But are we just in the middle of the “W” as they say? At any day are we to slide back down to new lows?
Depends on who you ask. You might ask the stock market. Our friend Mr. Dow might say that profits are being turned again, and all indeces are back up. You might ask the job market. Jobs might tell you that the only reason companies have turned a profit is because they’ve laid everyone off. And until we have a net gain in jobs, not just a slowing in people losing jobs, growth is still seasons away.
What about if you ask housing or construction. Housing and construction are just out of comas, and they’re not answering questions very well yet. Construction has enjoyed a new lease on life, but it has an aneurysm called “interest rates”. If they spike, it might burst and kill construction and housing all together.
Whatever your stance, we have to continue to plug away. CCS is trying to do its small part by providing capital to the residential construction market, and hopefully that can help, at least locally, to morph the “W” into a “V”.
