Recession Exit Signs, Exports of Green Energy Technology Key to Future Economics

"Okay, here's the thing," ummm, I must admit that phrase doesn't have the zing it did in my mind when I stole it from whatever teenager I last heard repeating it. But there is a point to my offering a "deal" here, because I am going to at least try to limit myself to two simple but important issues this week.

First, and most important, though it is not "technically" the definition of the economic turnaround that defines the end of a recession, neither did it "technically" take an actually recession to occur before the doom and gloomsters were shouting from their rooftops and the rooftops of all of their friends' New York Penthouse apartments that, "the end is near." In their case, they meant the end of good times economically. (If I can find them, I'll include a couple of cartoons I drew about the supposed "end of the oil" idea that caught hold during the fake "oil crisis" a couple of years ago ... or was it that long ago??)

In this case, it is MY TURN to PROCLAIM that "THE END IS NEAR!!" I mean it as sincerely, and with at least as much conviction as the bears of Wall Street who "predicted" this downturn. And I have actual "proof" myself. Okay, well, it's not really my own independent research or scientific survey, but it is a report from the CBS News on Channel 5 here in Phoenix. Real estate sales in metro Phoenix during the month of March 2009 virtually DOUBLED the year of year March total from 2008. I just saw the report at the top of the local television news. Here's the exact quote from the all too brief news item on the KPHO website, "In March 2009, 7,600 homes were sold in the Valley, whereas in March of 2008, only 4,300 found buyers." And although I put less stock in predictive statements that actual counting (notice I didn't say "statistics"), right next to that it another statement that says, "Mortgage insiders expect interest rates to keep slipping, further fueling the Valley's housing market." Other encouraging news included a drop of 38% in foreclosure rates from February to March, and what appears (from the video on the site) to be a Forbes magazine report that media home prices skyrocketed from $133,000 in February to well over $250,000 in March of this year. A substantial part of the (older) video piece contained on that page was about the 1000 buyers who showed up last week for an auction of foreclosed properties in the area. People are certainly still moving to Phoenix, and the optimism is rising here. Let's make that a trend, shall we, please?

Okay, second item is also related to looking forward and upward. I wrote a letter to the