Hate for some reality to intrude, but someone has to do it. Couple things to remember:
- Mecklenburg County has to reval this year, having foolishly skipped it in 2008 and again last year. Anyone (local government) banking on a massive windfall over and above 2003 values might be in for a nasty surprise.
- What little “recovery” there has been in the real estate sector is almost totally a fiction, the product of free money and subsidy. The Charlotte market remains weak, with double-digit unemployment pressing hard on available income.
- BAC and WFC remain utterly dependent on taxpayer handouts. Ignore the repayment of TARP and Brian Moynihan’s shameless spin, swallowed whole by a guileless UPoR. The banks continue to pawn sketchy loans off on Fannie and Freddie, which had their $400m. federal bailout “cap” lifted on Christmas Eve while taxpayers slept snug in their beds. The Ponzi scheme is being rebuilt, tier by tier.
- State and local revenues will continue to be flat, and you know what that means. Tax hikes. Fee hikes. A big bullseye painted on your wallet by the public sector.
Factor in a continued lack of accountability from government officials for much of anything they do and an election system designed to protect the status quo process, the incremental creep in government reach, and 2010 could be quite the horrid year.
Happy New Year.
Bonus Observation: And I didn’t even mention destroying the health care system by illegal and unconstitutional means.
