Unemployed Keep Spending

Earlier this week I was in Colebrook where I met Wayne Frizzell, manager of the local branch of First Colebrook Bank.

Frizzell says there’s something strange going on. The loss of the Ethan Allen furniture plant put a lot of people out of work. But Frizzell says, some of the people without jobs don’t seem to have gotten the memo.

FRIZZELL: You talk to some of the store owners, one in particular I talked to, and she said it’s scary. She said they’re still buying their Megabuck tickets like they were. They’re still spending just like they were before they were unemployed.

Frizzell says of course, other laid off workers have cut back considerably.

This week we got a summary of how much stimulus money has come to New Hampshire. The state says we’ve seen 965 million dollars in contracts, grants and loans. That includes the work of the Small Business Administration. They’ve helped businesses get about 88 million dollars in loans.

The Boston branch of the Federal Reserve published the latest beige book on the new England economy. Their informal survey of area businesses says most sectors are holding steady or growing a tiny bit. Not so for commercial real estate. With falling rents and high vacancy rates, that’s the Achilles Heel right now and plenty of banks holding those loans are feeling vulnerable.

On a brighter note, the Business and Professional Women organization picked their Woman of the Year on Thursday. Lorrie Carey Mathews, Selectwoman in Boscawen, got the award. Carey Mathews is confident that women entrepreneurs have honed exactly the right skills to get us out of this economic mess.

CAREY MATTHEWS: Women have long run businesses without the benefit off financing from banks. They’ve learned to cobble together resources to make a business, provide jobs and run the economy.

From the Working It Out blog, Rich in Somersworth describes an obvious solution to high housing costs. He and his young family took in a friend who was on the financial ropes. Now the friend has cheap rent and Rich gained a little wiggle room for the monthly budget.

With this round up of the week’s economic news, I’m Jon Greenberg.