The Economy, Santa Fe, and November

My visit to Santa Fe last week was an eye-opener. I went to visit a gallery where I bought art about a year ago and had a little trouble finding the entrance. It turns out that the owner decided to shrink her space in the past year. I asked why, and it was that business was too slow to pay for the previous space. She added that she was able to keep most of her artists. But that means she had to drop some.

At another gallery where I bought art this visit, the owner informed me she would be moving soon because her landlord was not lowering rent while others were. Now, this gallery is in a prime spot on San Francisco St. not far from the Plaza. Incredulous, I asked if rents around the Plaza were indeed going down, and she said yes.

The Plaza area in Santa Fe is a busy and prime area for upscale tourists and art (and food) lovers. If landlords feel they need to lower rents there, that says volumes about how weak the economy is. I was genuinely surprised the economy is having this much impact on the Plaza.

Since I’ve returned home, numbers, including another rise in jobless claims this morning, and the Fed statement Tuesday confirm the economy is getting worse again. And that is saying something given the economy was not exactly great earlier this year.

Shifting to politics, I had thought a slightly improved economy might help limit the damage for Democrats in November. Now that it appears the opposite might be the case, that political bloodbath I’ve said might be coming might indeed come right on schedule. To add a further weakening in the economy to all the Democrats’ provocations . . . .

Do I need to say more?