Where do you see el paso in 5 years? (Fort Bliss: loan, how much)

[LEVOW]

Wehere do you see el paso in 5 years, particularly downtown?

[Muhnay]

Pretty much the same as it is now.

[lonewolfmccoy]

Hopefully with more english being spoken lol!

[malamute]

Originally Posted by LEVOW

Wehere do you see el paso in 5 years, particularly downtown?

I think it will be the same -- but there are several events that could affect this city. If Obama wins and slashes the military like he says he will, that will affect the military here, Fort Bliss's growth would stop. Other areas might fight to get some of the military pork, BRAC could be revised.

The depression and collapse of our economy could have an effect on Mexico and limit how much money the Mexican shoppers who come to our downtown have to spend. Without all the shoppers from Juarez or if they have fewer dollars to spend, it would affect our downtown.

[HookTheBrotherUp]

I echo Muhnay's sentiment, unfortunately I don't see that it will change much, if any. A best case scenario is that things remain the same.

The expansion of the military will only offset what is happening/will happen in El Paso due to the nation's economic situation. I'm old enough to know that the mess will trickle down to most soon, and recovery will take a few years.

Be honest with yourselves, and think of how many friends and family you have in El Paso that don't save enough, if at all, or how many friends and family do you have that live paycheck to paycheck, maybe use those 'Payday' loan places?

Things are about to get tough for poor cities, and whether anyone will admit this or not, El Paso hovers not too far above the line of demarcation in regards to being a welfare city. A turbulent economic situation can tip the iceberg for El Paso.

For those with 401K plans, go into your plans if online, see what the value was in October of 2007, and see where it is now. Pathetic I am sure. Those who were planning, or are currently drawing from their retirement accounts might be adversely affected if they had their funds in stocks, or mutual funds. It's like knowing you have $100.00 in the bank, then you go to an ATM to withdraw $50.00 for groceries and learn that you only have $40.00 in the account!

If one has a few million, let's say about 4 million in investments and retirement accounts, if he/she lost half of that value, they he/she will still be better than okay at the end. If someone has only a few thousand, and lost half, they will not be okay. See the danger here?

So what will those people do? They are going to need assistance. Then you have businesses that can't sell their goods, or services. They will first lay off people, then maybe go out of business. More unemployment, more welfare.

So you see, a recession is on it's way, next year is not going to be good. So though El Paso stands to gain from military expansion, that growth will be negated by the economic slump El Paso will be going through that could well last five years.