Every economist, every market watcher, every so called expert has his or her own way to taking the temperature of USA Incorporated. There are some basic gauges: Like the unemployment number and the respective market averages for the NYSE---The Nasdaq and The S and P. They keep tabs on inflation and interest rates. Certain industries are followed closely - Housing and Construction, manufacturing, and these days, high-tech, since so many of us are churning over the must-have gadgets of 21st century communication: Smart Phones and Laptops, iPads and iPods, electronic readers like the Nook and Kindle.
Now, boom times have not quite returned, especially in Sacramento where the jobless rate is almost 2 percent higher than the national average, and there is still much to be done, but a lot of the signs we are seeing are good ones. Locally, the post office is hiring as is The Sacramento PD. In some areas like El Dorado Hills, home building is brisk as are home sales. The same Sacramento that was among the hardest hit regions for foreclosed homes has drifted down to number 6. And though a lot of the homes with ‘for sale’ signs around the region are bank-owned, prices are edging up and homes that were under water are finally drying out. Car dealers, blessed with pent up demand, will see a double digit increase in sales. And in California, cars and trucks are selling faster than anywhere else. Look closely and you’ll see more new restaurants; more wineries with big money backing opening in Amador County. It seems every one of the big hospital chains is building something new and exciting. Gas prices are still higher than we’d like, but at about $3.35 a gallon last I looked, filling the tank is just numbing, not downright painful.
Nationally, while many business people are still dreading the full roll out of Obama care, the smart ones, large and small have stopped complaining and started adjusting. It’s Obama and company for another 4 years - stability counts for something, even if the incumbent is eying higher taxes and more regulations. Locally, taxes are flying into the state treasury faster than even the rosiest tax and spend legislators could have dreamed…and I think I heard a giddy Senator Darrel Steinberg mumble the words rainy day fund. More kids are going to college again. And there’s something you may have missed going on in the here we go again can we save the Kings saga? This isn’t a silly argument with the Maloof’s, which is much like persuading a hungry wolf to share the residents of a chicken coop. But unlike last time when some brave sponsors and fans wrote checks, this city’s big players are in names like Oates and Tsokopolous. And you get the feeling that other Californians with deep pockets and the desire and skills to run a successful team, guys like Ron Burkle and Mark Mastrov, may really step in to keep the Kings from going supersonic.
The playing field with the big dollars of Microsoft, Nordstrom, and a leading hedge fund on one side and a newly deputized band of rich brothers on the other, may not appear level. But David Stern is an honest broker. Kevin Johnson has big time street cred with the league and at the end of the day, if the Maloof’s are out of the NBA, do the rest of the owners really care which of two fervent basketball towns become the stewards of a half billion dollar franchise? That’s the 500 million dollar question. Right now logic suggests a plucky one pro-team town should stay that way. And already blessed with Starbucks and the Seahawks, Microsoft and the Mariners - Seattle should just weigh its turn to make amends for an NBA franchise it already lost once.
