Economic Realities Options

[albertchampion]

how much lipstick can you apply to a pig?

i ask this question because so many pundits want to tout a resurrection of the economy. but what am i encountering?

firstly, i live in metro-houston. a metropolitan area less destroyed by the banksters than so many other areas[i.e., the hydrocarbon industry escaped much of the cataclysm]. but, metro-houston has not gone undamaged.

before the anschluss of hurricane ike, i had been planning to do some remodeling, etc.

then ike hit. taking out a lot of the trees on my property. do you think that there was some gouging going on concerning the removal of these oaks? do birds fly? suffice it to say, my remodeling budget became redirected.

now, financially, i have recovered. and i have decided to resurrect my 2008 projects.

but those vendors who have been doing my work for decades are starving. before ike, in the immediate aftermath of ike, one of my vendors couldn't take the time to visit my property to do a small job. i visited with them on tuesday. they were at my residence today.

same with my roofer. before and after ike, i couldn't get any attention. after a call on monday, he showed up, on time, on tuesday. and told me that as soon as he learned of my roofing selection, he could start the job within hours.

appliance repair. before ike, it was a 2 week lead time. today, it is a 24 hour lead time.

no matter what propaganda cnbc attempts to float, my experiences are telling me that this is a very weak economy. a buyer's economy. if you have the cash.