Has our economic bubble finally popped?

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

By Sabra Ayres

With tourism season in full swing, it seems hard for us to fully realize the impact of the national economic downturn being felt by our brethren outside of Paradise.
In Jackson, we still have ‘Help Wanted’ signs on many retail store and restaurants. Other than Sublette County, where gas development keeps the cowboys flush with cash, we have the lowest unemployment rate in the state at 1.9 percent. And still, the want ads for the valley have enough opportunity for all of us to have a second job. Jackson’s housing market took a dip alongside the rest of the nation’s, but one is still hard-pressed to find a home for a family of four in Teton County for less than $1 million.

Gas is close to $4 per gallon, but with our freshly paved and expanding bike path system, biking to work is a pleasure, not just a necessity as it is for other commuters around the country.

But this was the ultimate shocker of how lucky we really are here: I went to a Comprehensive Plan meeting last month in Rafter J, where there was free pizza. Yeah, free pizza. In my career as a journalist, I’ve been to a lot of zoning and school board meetings from New Hampshire to Alaska. But I’ve never been offered a free slice during a local government meeting.

So I was a bit shocked when we heard last week that the Chef’s Table was closing its doors in September in part because of high food prices. Ouch. Granted, the Chef’s Table is gourmet outlet and not at the same price point as McDonald’s. In a town that attracts a clientele wealthy enough to fill hotels like the Four Seasons and the Amangani, the Chef’s Table prices don’t seem that unreasonable.

But with news about food and fuel price increases happening across the country, forcing consumers to change their lifestyles, I can’t help but worry … is the economic downturn finally catching up to us? If one small business owner succumbs to a bad economy, are more to follow?

Beyond our insulated world, things already sound bad enough. I get calls from friends working in New York City’s finance and banking world who fear they will lose their jobs as that industry rattles and shakes all around them. A real estate friend of mine in Florida, who used to vacation to visit me in several of the more remote places I have lived – London, Moscow, Germany – hasn’t sold a house in more than a year. With Florida’s economy falling more rapidly than other states, my Sunshine State friend has taken a part-time job as an office assistant in an insurance office.

And it pains me to mention my fellow friends in the journalism world, in which newspapers laid off more than 1,000 newsroom staffers in the month of May alone. A former editor of mine who now works for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, a Tribune Co. paper, said goodbye to 20 percent of her newsroom last week. The mass layoff included 55 people - reporters, editors and researchers.
Double ouch.

Our most trusted – and let’s be honest, only - statistical researcher in the valley, Jonathan Schechter, restrained my panic at least for the short haul when I asked him this week if Jackson is starting to feel the pinch of the national economy.
“It’s too soon to tell,” he told me, adding that the telltale statistics on the valley’s economic performance won’t be available until the fall.

Still, just in case, I’m hunkering down and counting my pennies more closely, if only to allow me to have just a few more take-out goodies from the Chef’s Table before closing day.
PERMALINK:
Has our economic bubble finally popped? | Planet JH News Article: Editorial

Leave a Comment