BURLINGTON, NC: Stagnant and getting worse

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tmartin/563156379/

I live in Burlington, NC which is about a 45 minute drive west of Raleigh, NC and 20 minutes drive from Greensboro, NC along I-85/I-40.

The economy has been stagnant here for quite a while and I suspect that things may be getting somewhat worse.

Personally, I have been trying to sell townhomes in this area and have not received one offer in the two years and four months that they have been on the market despite repeatedly reducing the price by 40% from the original asking prices in May 2009. I realize that housing is slow all over the US.

My wife opened a retail furniture and accessories store in a nearby town where my family once operated a ladies hosiery business. It has been interesting to watch the ebbs and flows of consumer confidence since she opened. Although business has been decent the past two weeks, I wonder how the volatility in the investment markets over the past week will impact confidence in the coming weeks.

Earlier this year, we have been through two spells (in January and February and again in June and July) where we have had a lot of traffic but visitors had been viewing her store as a museum and really holding tight to their pocketbooks. There are a number of strip shopping centers with significant vacancies for a couple of years now, but I do not see much interest among retailers to take the plunge and move in.

Construction activity is severely depressed here. Most small business people that I speak with are just trying to hang on and muddle through as best they can.



It seems that nearly everyone is immersed in this balance sheet recession and no amount of easing in the credit markets is going to make a difference other than lead eventually to a serious bout of inflation following the approaching deflationary period that we are just now on the verge of entering. I think we are going to see a monumental scramble for liquidity on the part of all sectors of the economy - government, corporations and individuals.

[Comment received by email]