New Year, First Impressions

In the Manasota Key / Englewood / Port Charlotte area of Florida there is an abundance of homes for sale.  For rent as well.  Buying opportunity?  Well, who knows really, but best to have a long time frame.  Here's a chart showing the housing price trend for Port Charlotte.

This is not the only sign here of a faltering economy.  Today we stopped by the Charlotte County Parks and Recreation offices to pick up a seasonal beach pass.  The doors were locked even though an hours of operation sign said they should be open for business.  At the beach we asked a county employee why they were closed.  He said the department was short staffed and could not maintain regular hours.

So as we enter the new year, we have Illinois failing to pay it's bills, Charlotte county Florida unable to maintain business hours, and New York City municipal workers unwilling to plow snow when needed.  You hear many predictions for 2011 so here's my one, not very original, forecast:  a growing number of state and local municipalities will be unable to meet their obligations.  Meridith Whitney lays it out in this video.