Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Economics
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 04-10-2008, 10:25 PM
 
5,747 posts, read 12,030,837 times
Reputation: 4511

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob from down south View Post
So what kind of things can I grow in a Colorado Springs Depression Garden?

I know tomatoes grow almost anywhere. What other kinds of food grow well in the dry climate and mountain soil there? A lot of the semi-rural properties have well permits that would allow a quarter-acre garden to be watered with well water.
My neighbors have a 20'x10' plot that supports quite a variety: zucchini, squash, broccoli, carrots, etc. I think they even had moderate success with a high-altitude strawberry hybrid. Try a "colorado gardening" keyword search at amazon for a selection of Colorado-specific titles.

 
Old 04-11-2008, 05:50 AM
 
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
2,221 posts, read 5,269,400 times
Reputation: 1703
Default Denver-based Frontier Airlines in Bankruptcy

Looks like Frontier's now the fourth U.S. airline to go into bankruptcy in the last two weeks.

They're in Chapter 11...going to keep operating (for now), but their days sure look to be numbered. The sort of discount fares they charge can't pay the bills with fuel costs as high as they are. The credit card companies figured that out and started a holdback on fares charged, so that when the inevitable service stoppage occurs, the CC companies aren't left holding the bag on unused fares. Can't say, even with that, I'd be too willing to buy a ticket in advance with them now.

That's a direct hit on Denver, and an indirect hit on Colo Springs, where their new maintenance facility was theoretically going to be opened. Doubt we'll see any of that now.

And the hits just keep on coming. GE Capital is gonna put a major hurtin' on the Dow today...and the TED spread is widening significantly again, meaning the banks are once again eyeballing each other wondering who's gonna be the next Bear Stearns...
 
Old 04-11-2008, 09:11 AM
 
8,317 posts, read 29,418,672 times
Reputation: 9306
Default "Can you hear it now?"

To paraphrase the Verizon ad, "Can you hear me now?," the headlines in just today's newspaper ought to make it very clear where things are heading in Colorado and the rest of the country.

A quick synopsis:

As mentioned above, Frontier Airlines filed for bankruptcy this morning. Others ARE going to follow. A friend who analyzes airlines as a major part of his work made this prediction to me over a year ago. He said that there are only two kinds of airlines in America--the ones that are broke and the ones that are going to be broke. Why? Because Americans can't afford to pay enough for an airline ticket for the airline to cover its expenses, much less make a profit--even with all of the direct and indirect taxpayer subsidies to the industry.

CDOT is shifting its priorities to maintenance of roads and severely curtailing new construction. Why? Because they can't raise enough revenue to do both. In fact, if they were to do a strict accounting of the condition of the highway system in Colorado, it would show that they aren't even able to keep up maintaining the current infrastructure, much less build any more. This despite all of the additional indirect taxpayer subsidies BESIDES the fuel tax that gets poured into highway, local street, and county road budgets. Simply stated, Coloradans can't or won't pay enough taxes to maintain the roads they drive on. By the way, Colorado fuel prices hit an all-time record this week.

These two stories alone give stark evidence of the massive mis-investment that continues to made in Colorado (and the rest of the country) into transportation modes--highways and air--that don't have much future in their present form. We simply currently have an unbalanced and inefficient transportation system that we no longer can afford to maintain. Passenger trains, an efficient alternative to the mess we have now, aren't even on the public's radar as a potential solution. We can thank the highway lobby for that. Bad.

Meanwhile, also noted in the post above, General Electric has significantly altered its outlook for profits. Consider this: GE has historically been considered one of the most stable companies in the US in terms of long-term profitability. It is the ONLY company to remain in the Dow Jones Industrial Average since the DJIA was created in 1896. If GE is a hurtin' frog, we got trouble.

Is it any surprise that consumer confidence is at a 26-year low this morning?

So, tourists this summer can try to fly to Colorado on bankrupt airlines (if they can afford a ticket and if the plane they are going to fly on isn't in pieces on some shop floor because of defects), pay record prices for fuel, and drive on highways that are on their way to falling apart--and try to pay for all of it with money they may not have. Somehow that doesn't quite square with those pretty tourism ads that the state is airing these days, now does it?
 
Old 04-11-2008, 09:36 AM
Status: "Open for work" (set 7 days ago)
 
Location: Just south of Denver since 1989
11,822 posts, read 34,349,149 times
Reputation: 8950
Default Market Risk Index

Little slippage seen for local real estate, an article from the Rocky Mountain News, reports that according to a new national report, homes in the Denver-Aurora area have a 1% chance of losing value two years from now. Released by the PMI Mortgage Insurance Co., the Spring 2008 U.S. Market Risk Index tracked the 50 largest metropolitan statistical areas in the country and found that only 13 metro areas are poised to perform better than the Denver area. David W. Berson, chief economist and strategist for The PMI Group said, "It's hard to predict the exact bottom. On a national basis, home prices are still falling in many metropolitan areas, and they will probably stop falling and start to stabilize in the second half of the year. The Denver- Aurora MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area) is one of the better markets."
Little slippage seen for local real estate : More Business : The Rocky Mountain News
 
Old 04-11-2008, 09:53 AM
 
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
2,221 posts, read 5,269,400 times
Reputation: 1703
Odd, but I seem to remember about this time last year these same guys also calling for the market to stabilize in the second half of 2007. The median Denver house has lost 6.3% of its market value in the meantime.

Recovery is always right around the corner, right?
 
Old 04-11-2008, 01:34 PM
 
3,459 posts, read 5,775,340 times
Reputation: 6677
Welcome to Rome......care for a marshmallow?

On a thread in the business forum, smebody was talking about a relative that habitually carried a $15K CC balance and maintained a good credit rating. The CC company upped his rate 10 points even though he hadn't done anything to trigger a universal default and explained that it was a business decision.

I'm guessing that the CC company needed to shore up its balance sheet and decided to force an otherwise profitable customer to transfer the balance. Now a CC company is driving Frontier into Chapter 11 by holding off payments.

Anybody living off credit cards should be a little nervous today.

Speaking of Bob's depression garden......I wonder if Colorado Springs HOAs have rules about chickens.

Last edited by sterlinggirl; 04-11-2008 at 01:47 PM..
 
Old 04-11-2008, 01:44 PM
 
3,459 posts, read 5,775,340 times
Reputation: 6677
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob from down south View Post
So what kind of things can I grow in a Colorado Springs Depression Garden?
Potatoes......lots and lots of potatoes....
 
Old 04-11-2008, 01:46 PM
 
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
2,221 posts, read 5,269,400 times
Reputation: 1703
Quote:
Originally Posted by sterlinggirl View Post
I wonder if Colorado Springs HOAs have rules about chickens.
I'll be OK unless they start asking why those big white standard poodles in my back yard go "baaaaaaah."

And there ain't nuttin' like "Poodles with Noodles" for dinner...
 
Old 04-15-2008, 09:34 AM
Status: "Open for work" (set 7 days ago)
 
Location: Just south of Denver since 1989
11,822 posts, read 34,349,149 times
Reputation: 8950
Default New rules went into effect Jan 1

Foreclosure rate halved in Q1 in Denver area, an article from the Rocky Mountain News, reports that according to analysis by the Rocky Mountain News, the rate of increase in foreclosures for the 7-county Denver metro area during the first quarter of 2008 is roughly half what it was a year ago. There were 7,459 foreclosure filings in the Denver area in the first quarter, roughly a 16% increase from the previous first-quarter record of 6,410 filings in 2007. The overall foreclosure rate rose by more than 30% in Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas and Jefferson counties from the first quarter of 2006 to the first quarter of 2007. Economist Patty Silverstein, president of Development Research Partners said, "While no one likes to see these record numbers increase, they're at least going in the right direction." Silverstein added, "I think it is possible that by the end of the year we will possibly even show a slight drop from the total number of foreclosures we saw in 2007."
Foreclosure rate halved in Q1 in Denver area; Vote in our poll : Real Estate : The Rocky Mountain News
 
Old 04-15-2008, 10:22 AM
 
3,459 posts, read 5,775,340 times
Reputation: 6677
1000 more foreclosures than the same time last year, and the headlines read 'foreclosure rate halved'

Hey Bob......are you gonna eat the last of that poodle?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Closed Thread


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Economics

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top