Bottomed Out?

If anyone can think of a worse decade, please nominate it!

• We started with the silliness of Y2K
• Moved into the tragedy of 9/11
• Got involved in two (still on-going) wars
• Watched Enron and Tyco and others crash due to mis-management, greed and arrogance
• Got smacked down hard by Wall Street greed and hubris...

...and we are still on one knee trying to get up off the canvas.

New Mexico Unemployment:
No change from October to November -- we remain at 7.8%.
Job growth was a negative 3.0% which translates into a loss of 25,400 jobs. That is easily the worst loss the state has seen since WWII.

Albuquerque/Rio Rancho Unemployment:
A minor drop from 8.1% in October to 8% in November.
Job growth was a negative 3.5% which translates into a loss of 13,900 jobs. That is a big chunk of the entire state's losses.

For the state and the local economy, the only consistent bright spots have been health services and government increases. Every other sector is in the tank at the moment.

And, with all of that -- we are still better off than more than 50% of the other states. Somehow I find very little satisfaction in that.

May I wish all of you a better year and decade -- one small step at a time as we climb out of this very deep hole.