Dr Jeff Cornwall

You are going to have to figure out some kind of way to give President Bush the credit that demolishes the impression reinforced by economic development fanatics that they are modulating the economy with subsidies to counteract the “Bush Economy.” In spite of the numbers, local governments are in a frenzy to get more tourist money with convention centers, roads, interchanges or building the next empty building for the next factory that might be tricked into coming into the community. There are over 631 empty speculative buildings in the state of Tennessee the last time I checked.
The economy is restructuring itself and those structural changes are frightening and disturbing even though numerous economic indicators and tax collections are saying that things are going along quite well. The factory payroll as a percentage of all business activity has been rising at below the inflation rate since 1979. There is also an interesting demographic change going on: We may be transitioning into an economy where two generations are retired at the same time.