Local economy growing? Service jobs are great - do you want fries with that?

After today's massive 3 day repo black helicopter drop (which will have to be paid back @5.25%) I will focus on some local news.

Remember when Dr. Grammy predicted prices would rise 2.5% in 2007. What was he smoking? I emailed him on this and he blew me off. This leads me to question anything else he puts out. With all the information out there who in their right mind would think prices would rise this year? However, I will post his latest number anyway, at least we can look back and laugh at how wrong they are

From CSUB and Dr. Grammy:

Kern County's economy took a distinct turn for the better during 2007's second quarter, although the housing market continued to slump, according to the latest issue of the Kern Economic Journal, published by California State University, Bakersfield.
"Kern's economic growth accelerated from 2 percent to 3.6 percent," said Abbas Grammy, professor of applied economics at CSUB, and publisher of the Kern Economic Journal. He also said the county's labor markets improved. "The county's economy created 5,900 jobs in the second quarter, which ended June 30," he said. Both the farm sector and the non-farm sector were bustling; in the non-farm labor market, both government and private sector jobs increased.
And as one might expect in an expanding economy, the jobless rate shrank. Unemployment dropped from 8.5 percent in the first quarter to 8 percent in the second quarter, continuing its stay in single-digit territory. Kern County's jobless rate has stayed in single digits now for two years, the longest stretch in at least 25 years. Grammy attributes much of this to the job-creation efforts of the Kern Economic Development Corp. Bakersfield (5.5 percent), California City (6.2 percent) and Ridgecrest (4.5 percent) had unemployment rates below the county average.
Businesses also improved their outlook, moving up to 120 on the Business Outlook Index, compared to 117 the previous quarter. "This gain in business confidence reversed the declining trend of the index over the previous five quarters," Grammy said.
Consumers, however, weren't quite as confident. The Bakersfield Consumer Sentiment Index dropped to 120, down from 125 the previous quarter. Mark Evans, interim dean of the School of Business and Public Administration and an economics professor at CSUB, characterized consumers' attitude as "ho-hum."
And if you thought the housing market was down, it is. All gauges measuring the housing market continued their downward spiral. The median housing price in both Kern County and Bakersfield was down for the third quarter in a row, housing sales were down, and new building permits were down. Adding to the gloomy housing picture, foreclosures were up, and the housing affordability index was up.