Colorado...slated for an early recovery????? (Denver, Pueblo: power lines, how much, colleges)

[Katiana]

9NEWS.com | Colorado's Online News Leader | Colorado's economy shows signs of a turnaround

The above story was on the news yesterday.

[livecontent]

I do not care if the economy recovers.

I am in no worse shape than I was two years ago; I am in no better shape.

I do not need to buy anything; I have no needs.
I do not want to buy anything; I have no wants.

I am not in financial trouble; I have no debts to pay.
I do care if my house dropped in value; my house is mortgage free.

I am not hungry; food is cheap; I eat what I want, and more than I need.
I do not need a job; I am retired.

I do not care if gasoline increases; I drive very little and I do not need a car.
I do not care if loans are difficult; I do not need to borrow money.

I do not care if the financial markets have collapsed; I do not care about money.
I do not care that there is low savings interest; Again, I do not care about money.

The less I care; the more happier I am. My days of striving, competing, winning or losing are gone. And if the time comes when I may suffer the affects; which may happen if Social Security Collapses, Medicare goes away, or any other calamity or misfortune occurs, so be it. I will just accept it, live it, suffer it. Time will go on; I will not....but today I
Livecontent

So you want an answer to the question, so I stay on topic--I will care just for a moment to answer. Yes it will be an early recovery in Colorado. Somebody has to be first, why not here--the Golden Mountain State of Opportunity. We attract many people who live for money, wealth and prestige. These are the people who benefit most from the continuation of the cycles of market capitalism. Yes, we need to return to our prosperity so the leaders of our greed industries can have a healthful body of people to take the resources for their own selfish gain. These parasites cannot survive on a dead body; they will infuse us with enough life, so we can be continued to be defrauded and robbed. So, be it. That is why I do not care.

[tfox]

I think Colorado probably will have a local uptick in our economy (if not a recovery), and here is why. When the economy crashed, commodity prices went from being slightly overvalued to being significantly undervalued. That definitely hit Colorado hard, to say nothing of our neighboring western states, all of which were enjoying a mini-boom based on historically high commodity prices, a boom which came to an abrupt end last year.

Commodity and energy prices are going to go up, probably before the economic recovery starts in earnest. I haven't read anyone who thinks that commodity prices will stay at these low levels, recession or no recession, because the prices are based on a scarcity of supply, and increasing demand from developing countries. That will lead to a local uptick in states that have resource extraction (i.e, mining, O&G, etc) as significant industries, including states like Wyoming, Texas, and Colorado. Clearly, the western slope will benefit the most, but Denver, being a regional hub for this type of activity, will benefit.

[Bob from down south]

Originally Posted by Katiana

9NEWS.com | Colorado's Online News Leader | Colorado's economy shows signs of a turnaround

The above story was on the news yesterday.

...and last week...and last month...and last year...and next week...and next month...

Standard Colorado news media pumpmonkey fare.

[Bob from down south]

Originally Posted by tfox

I think Colorado probably will have a local uptick in our economy (if not a recovery), and here is why. When the economy crashed, commodity prices went from being slightly overvalued to being significantly undervalued. That definitely hit Colorado hard, to say nothing of our neighboring western states, all of which were enjoying a mini-boom based on historically high commodity prices, a boom which came to an abrupt end last year.

Commodity and energy prices are going to go up, probably before the economic recovery starts in earnest. I haven't read anyone who thinks that commodity prices will stay at these low levels, recession or no recession, because the prices are based on a scarcity of supply, and increasing demand from developing countries. That will lead to a local uptick in states that have resource extraction (i.e, mining, O&G, etc) as significant industries, including states like Wyoming, Texas, and Colorado. Clearly, the western slope will benefit the most, but Denver, being a regional hub for this type of activity, will benefit.

I'm having a hard time believing in a real recovery beyond a small seasonal upturn here, because Colorado housing is still as sick as a Colorado prairie dog, and the absolutely unavoidable consequences of the non-Coloradoan administration's very un-Coloradolike printing of money is a rise in mortgage rates, which put lots more stress on a Colorado housing market already swamped with foreclosures.

And with crude oil piling up at storage facilities worldwide, including rentals of supertankers by commodities speculators to store it, I don't see a sustained rise in wholesale energy rates enough to get Colorado's drill, drill, drill crowd back into gear.

I just don't see how the debt-enslaved Colorado masses pull off a recovery when Colorado mortgage rates drive Colorado housing down another 10-20%.

And, like Livecontent, I really don't care so much anyway. It still feels like rearrangement of deck chairs on the Titanic (a ship which included as a passenger native Coloradoan the "unsinkable" J. J. "Molly" Brown) to me.

[jazzlover]

Bob makes some good points. Colorado's economy is still way overdependent on discretionary spending for things like tourism and recreation. That source of income has been severely decimated--maybe for good. Colorado is also massively overbuilt--a direct result of the real estate bubble. There are Colorado locales measuring their excess housing inventory in years of supply before one new thing will need to be built. And that is assuming that the widely-predicted next wave of foreclosures and price declines don't throw even more inventory into a glutted market. I particularly get tickled when someone says, "Well, Colorado is in nowhere near as bad a shape as Arizona, Nevada, Florida, or California--things didn't go as crazy in Colorado." As I have said before, that's like saying that drowning is better in 80 foot-deep water than in 100 foot-deep water. It's still drowning.

By the way, Bob, Margaret Brown was actually not a Colorado native--I believe she was born in Missouri, though she moved to Colorado when she was very young.

Livecontent makes some good points, too. If you don't require a whole lot of superfluous crap to live a happy life, it is possible to live in an economically depressed Colorado. I know--I did it back in the 1980's and never really changed my lifestyle much thereafter. Most spoiled Americans (and Coloradans) can't do that, so lots of folks are apt to be unhappy Coloradans in the years ahead--or unhappy former Coloradans.

[CosmicWizard]

jazzlover wrote:

As for the other sector of the Colorado economy the article mentions--energy--every day brings stories of more layoffs and more shutdowns. Yesterday I was at the offices of one of the western Colorado energy companies. Close to 100 people were working at that particular facility a year ago. Yesterday there was one receptionist, one foreman, and one manager left there. Even if energy prices ramp back up this year--and I think they will--my guess is it will take a lot of these outfits 18-24 months to get back to where they were. They are real gun shy now.

This article in the GJSentinel confirms your sentiment: Energy firms wait for better times to resume drilling in western Colorado

[Ticky909]

Self fulfilling prophecy isn't it? "Really? things are going good in Colorado, lets go there and buy a house and spend money."

Truth been spoken above, overeliant on dangerous industires. I think in Eagle county real estate and tourism are the two biggest industries, each doing over a billion a year, as of '08.

[wanneroo]

Originally Posted by Ticky909

Self fulfilling prophecy isn't it? "Really? things are going good in Colorado, lets go there and buy a house and spend money."

Truth been spoken above, overeliant on dangerous industires. I think in Eagle county real estate and tourism are the two biggest industries, each doing over a billion a year, as of '08.

Having moved from Vail in recent times, I think it's a bubble STILL yet to burst with real estate and tourism. A lot of people there still think it's going up and up but evidence suggests otherwise. Even for the wealthy people I know first hand they have started to balk at the prices being charged for everything there. When you factor in for a family of 4, flights into eagle, transportation via shuttle or rental car to the hotel or condo, hotel/condo charges, daily lift tickets for 4, ski instructors, food, booze, ski rentals or shopping, tips/gratuities, etc, it is a very expensive proposition and much more expensive than many other activities.

[motoracer51]

How is a recovery going to take place when more than half of the ARM's have yet to reset.

Things are going to get worse, much worse, before they get better.

It's of my honest opinion that we'll never see times like we did the last ten years, and hopefully so. It was based on over spending, I mean borrowing, ourselves into a false sense of prosperity.

Throw in the very real prospect of hyperinflation, and things become to look even worse.

The good thing about CO is it seems, at least in Western Colorado, that people lived somewhat withing their means.