Saturday, July 05, 2008

The Economy Keeps Skidding, But It Looks Good Here In Flotown...


Even Mack Daddy Here Is Struggling......
The US Dept. of Labor put out it's unemeployment statistics for June, and it didn't surpise - but it did disappoint... The good news is that here in Florence, we are getting two new more major employers...
First the bad news nationally. We lost another 62,000 jobs in June, which was the 6th straight month of job losses. Overall, the unemployment rate jumped up 1/10th of a point to %5.5. Ironically, it is the same as Florence's unemployment rate, but the good news is that Florence is moving in the right direction..
On top of the recent companies moving to the Pee Dee, we got news that Heinz Company will be building a plant in the county, and job website Monster.Com will be adding another 350 jobs when it opens a Customer Service headquarters in Florence. Apparently, they felt that it was important for them to open a facility where the service people speak ENGLISH !!! Smart move......
That brings me to the point of the day. With very few exceptions, business and politics are all local. Very little of what comes out of Washington DC truly matters. What the unemployment rate is nationally matters nothing, the fact is locally things are getting much better. The local governments are finally getting their acts together, and it's showing. While nationally, companies are delayed in cutting and rehiring workers, we here in Florence are really charging ahead, and that will be good news for all of us. Expect more tax revenues, resulting in lower tax rates and more services, and maybe even some downtown development - finally.
Maybe even one of the car dealerships will need another Service Advisor. I'm here, and I'm ready !!
.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hope they will speak english.

Thoroughbred 401k said...

Maybe some Gullah here and there, but most of it should be English.