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To: Sam Sara who wrote (81988)	3/17/2001 5:26:26 PM
From: Earlie	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 436258

Sam: As noted in earlier posts, I track truck traffic through a couple of amateurish methodologies. Truck traffic has been coming off for several months. Back loads have become more difficult to find and are not as well priced. Over the years, it has been an excellent economic indicator, at least for trend. Best, Earlie

To: Sam Sara who wrote (81988)	3/17/2001 8:16:31 PM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 436258

Are you commuting in Maryland or Virginia? My husband commutes from Fairfax to Crystal City, and he says the commute gets worse all the time. I pay attention to retail store parking lots. Just going by the ones I've been going to for years, there doesn't seem to be any drop-off in retail sales. Further, the $400-$500K McMansions being built a couple of blocks away are selling. We refinanced our house week before last and the loan officer told us that demand for mortgages has not dropped. We had lunch today at an all you can eat buffet place in Fairfax. The shopping mall parking lot was fuller than I've ever seen it except around Christmas and the restaurant was jammed. One thing I noticed was that in the restaurant, there were maybe 25% Caucasians. The rest were almost all Asians, South Asians, Middle Easterners, Hispanics, and Africans, and I don't mean African-Americans. They looked prosperous to me, but I didn't see many who had a management type demeanor. On the other hand, the last couple times I've been in Office Depot, they seemed empty. But Staples and Office Depot both added several new stores in the last few years and I think they built one or two too many. So that's the economic report from my end of the Beltway.

To: Sam Sara who wrote (81988)	3/18/2001 9:25:06 AM
From: RocketMan	Respond to of 436258

From deep inside the beltway, near Crystal City, I can tell you that we have not seen any slowdown -- just the opposite. New mini-mansions being built anywhere there is even a small plot of land, new condos going up, more shopping areas. I suspect the slowdown will begin impacting the outer suburbs before making its way to the closer-in areas.

To: Sam Sara who wrote (81988)	3/18/2001 11:06:49 AM
From: Lee Lichterman III	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

>>In the last 5 months, my commute has gotten noticeably easier, reflecting less traffic on the roads.<< It is just they don't have to transport all the hookers to Clinton's office anymore. Sorry, with all the Bush bashing, I figured I would throw some balance in there. <ggg> Sorry but I think a President stating the obvious truth is healthy. This drop in the market is due to a reality check of grossly over priced, pie in the sky valuations. I will be glad to be able to invest again instead of trading based on the greater fool theory where all I can hope for is some idiot paying more for a certificate that I over paid for. Bush stating the obvious truth is a welcome change from all the lies we got the last 8 years. This isn't 1929 and we are fast approaching a healthy 4.5% unemployment rate, 2.5% GDP growth right where we were in 1982 and we know how things went from there. Good Luck, Lee

To: Sam Sara who wrote (81988)	3/18/2001 12:05:35 PM
From: Andrew G.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

Sam: Traffic and shopping in the Twin Cities doesn't appear to have slowed but the local economy is feeling it in dollars spent. You are correct about lagging indicators. In Saturday's Home section of the Mpls Star Tribune a realtor was quoted as saying "I've never seen prices shoot up in a 60-day period as they have this January and February". Yet in the Friday business section the headline was on slowing venture capital "The flow of venture capital dollars to fledgling Minnesota businesses slowed significantly as 2000 ended with just nine companies receiving $106.7M in fourth quarter" down from 32 receiving $308.6M in the 3rd qtr. "believed to be the lowest quarterly level ever for the state". I think this mixed signals are showing that some sectors of the economy are going to be impacted at a slower or more muted degree than others. As someone else pointed out, this downturn has accelerated rapidly just since early December and the long term effects may not show up until later in the year in many sectors if current conditions persist.