Reply by DrDirt

I am here in the midwest – and it really seems to be a trickle down, in that there is a wait and see approach.
And once ‘everyone’ is holding off purchases we all grind to a halt.
If people are worried that they might be shown the door Friday morning – they are very reluctant to Gut a kitchen in a house they could have to short sell.
So all these big projects move to the “Maybe next month/quarter/year when things settle down” pile. The upside is that as the recovery begins, there will be a lot of pent up demand for those services that will flood at once.
I am more afraid that the new Obama administration will make California and Oregon look ‘pro’ small business by comparison. The mandates on Social Security, Insurance, and benefits I think will be absolutely crushing. I see more operators of solid businesses with 4-5 people following Ron’s example, and letting all but 1 or 2 go and taking on the work personally just to survive.
Personally I see at least 18 months before anything might be measurably better – and people loosening their purse strings again. The home refinance move and debt consolidation could work also – but the attractive rates have much stricter terms to qualify…so again 1 year plus before things really change.

-- "_If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astonish ourselves_." Edison