Air industry jobs lost (Wichita: 2009, home equity loan, vacation)

[upandrunning]

This thing has only just started. Wait and see how bad things get before you shout form the Mt. tops that things are great. Wichita has just started to feel the pinch of the rest of the economy’s in this country and world. Who is going to book flights to help aircraft sales? Wichita is not an autonomous economy. It depends on the rest of the US and world. As goes the world so goes Wichita. When Detroit fails because they build crap, but the auto market is strong, and Detroit is just loosing market share. This does not mean that the economy is bad. But when the whole thing is going in the toilet, as it is now. There will be no place to hide. During the last big recession of the late 70s, places like California, Florida and Texas never skipped a beat. Not true this go round. There are only places that have been devastated and those that are just now being devastated. First off Kansas has the worst property taxes I have seen in the country. Yes in California they are high, but home values to Ks, are much higher. I was just looking at a small 3-2 in Andover. Taxes for the year were 3300, Specials (another little knife in the back in Ks) was 1350 a year, HOA dues were 300 a year. So for a small 3-2 home on postage stamp lot the years taxes were just under 5000. This is so ridiculous it is unreal. It is not justifiable. The only reason people do not bolt is the air industry. It that industry goes down, and it is not looking invulnerable now, People will go into foreclosure fast. Wichita is not a town that people visit for fun. They either go for work or family. No one and I mean no one plans a visit to Wichita unless they are mentally defective. The article I posted above said that home builders are now starting to get worried, homes having set on the market for over a year. With the mortgage melt down it is only going to get worse. It will start by home values being worth less than what you paid for them a year ago. I have seen it in Michigan, Florida, and California. For those who think you are not going to be affected, good luck with that.

[athfo]

Originally Posted by upandrunning

No one and I mean no one plans a visit to Wichita unless they are mentally defective.

Well that's a great attitude to have.

[upandrunning]

Name me one thing that Wichita has that draws people from across the nation for vacations? No theme parks that are of a size bigger than a county fair. A zoo that is nothing that can not be out done in St. Louis, Cincinati, or anyother mid to large size city. This is not to say Wichita zoo is nothing, but it is not a draw to people who live outside the area. It is an industrial town, and if that industrial town stumbles the cards begin to fall. Look at Detroit, No one and I do mean no one goes now or ever has gone to Detroit to visit for a vacation. It is now and always has been an industrial town. Just trying to keep it real.

[KevK]

Originally Posted by upandrunning

This thing has only just started. Wait and see how bad things get before you shout form the Mt. tops that things are great. Wichita has just started to feel the pinch of the rest of the economy’s in this country and world. Who is going to book flights to help aircraft sales? Wichita is not an autonomous economy. It depends on the rest of the US and world. As goes the world so goes Wichita. When Detroit fails because they build crap, but the auto market is strong, and Detroit is just loosing market share. This does not mean that the economy is bad. But when the whole thing is going in the toilet, as it is now. There will be no place to hide. During the last big recession of the late 70s, places like California, Florida and Texas never skipped a beat. Not true this go round. There are only places that have been devastated and those that are just now being devastated. First off Kansas has the worst property taxes I have seen in the country. Yes in California they are high, but home values to Ks, are much higher. I was just looking at a small 3-2 in Andover. Taxes for the year were 3300, Specials (another little knife in the back in Ks) was 1350 a year, HOA dues were 300 a year. So for a small 3-2 home on postage stamp lot the years taxes were just under 5000. This is so ridiculous it is unreal. It is not justifiable. The only reason people do not bolt is the air industry. It that industry goes down, and it is not looking invulnerable now, People will go into foreclosure fast. Wichita is not a town that people visit for fun. They either go for work or family. No one and I mean no one plans a visit to Wichita unless they are mentally defective. The article I posted above said that home builders are now starting to get worried, homes having set on the market for over a year. With the mortgage melt down it is only going to get worse. It will start by home values being worth less than what you paid for them a year ago. I have seen it in Michigan, Florida, and California. For those who think you are not going to be affected, good luck with that.

Wichita's economy is still pretty good considering the national economy. Businesses in Wichita are not only not laying off but many of them are still hiring. And Cessna is building a huge new plant that will probably employ several thousand people when complete

[upandrunning]

Thats funny, The news said that they were laying off 1000 people. The other news article said that home builders were worried that new homes were setting on the market for over 1 year without selling. Hmmm. I guess I will take the news over your post.

[upandrunning]

Here are the articles
Builders around Wichita, Kan., Worried by Construction Slowdown.(Originated from The Wichita Eagle, Kan.) | Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News | Find Articles at BNET

Holiday season has Wichita retailers hoping for best in light of layoffs - Austin Business Journal:

[Modron]

Originally Posted by upandrunning

Times are a bit different now. It is not a normal cycle. And if it is cyclical, it has not been seen since the 30s.

Huh?

The aircraft industry boomed here after WW2, that was in the 1940s -btw, and historically Wichita's economy has cycled slightly out of step with the rest of the country. Until post-9/11 Wichita went into recessions later and came out of them earlier and stronger than most other parts of the country, because demand for aircraft -either commercial or military- remained high during those times. Since 9/11 and the struggles the airline companies have faced Wichita has not faired as well. Boeing started "leaning out" their operations resulting in a lot of outsourcing and at least some lost jobs. That was before they sold the commercial side to Spirit. Since then, the aircraft industry has not been as stable. I think Raytheon added an aircraft repair facility to make up for lost airplane sales.

So, while Wichita does share more in the economic struggles the rest of the nation experiences recently, it is recent - not dating back to the 1930s. That doesn't even make sense with the timing of WW2 and the growth of the airline industry.

[upandrunning]

My point was cycle in the sence of the Great Depresion. Not the air industry. Normal cycles of the air line industry can not be equated to what is going on now. Not since the GD has there been this kind of slow down. Normal rules do not apply here was my point.

[drjones96]

I was hired on at my company here 8 months ago. The events that have occured over the last 2-3 months have been shocking. As a result of this my company was forced to have a head count reduction. We've been told that things will be steady here for the next year barring a drastically worsening situation with the economy. And beyond that if we can weather this recession things should be promising. We're still designing new products to be released in the 2010 timeframe. We've got a healthy backlog of work and customers are still ordering/purchasing the product.

[Vision-Quest]

Originally Posted by upandrunning

Name me one thing that Wichita has that draws people from across the nation for vacations? No theme parks that are of a size bigger than a county fair. A zoo that is nothing that can not be out done in St. Louis, Cincinati, or anyother mid to large size city. This is not to say Wichita zoo is nothing, but it is not a draw to people who live outside the area. It is an industrial town, and if that industrial town stumbles the cards begin to fall. Look at Detroit, No one and I do mean no one goes now or ever has gone to Detroit to visit for a vacation. It is now and always has been an industrial town. Just trying to keep it real.

Wait a minute, have you ever been to Detroit? Im guessing not.

Downtown Detroit has LOTS to see. Greektown, Mo-town museum, and Detroit has one of the best ball parks, Comerica Park. Has one of the best zoos with a highest ranked artic exhibit which is outstanding. Henry Ford museum is a historian's dream, meaning that the Henry Ford museum has a lot of outstanding history. The Detroit Metro Area has several ski resorts as well if you like skiing, and a lot of other things to do. Yes Detroit is an industrial city, but metro areas of over 5 million people always has to have something to see and visit.