A divided country:
Two stories from the WSJ
YESTERDAY
Market for Vacation Homes Is on the Rise
By S. MITRA KALITA
Sales in many vacation communities across the U.S. soared last year to levels
not seen since boom times, driven by deep discounts, cash purchases and buyers'
rising stock portfolios.
On Mercer Island, Wash., waterfront sales nearly tripled in 2010, compared with
a year earlier, reaching par with 2006 volume there. Sales on Hilton Head
Island, S.C., rose 14% for the year. Palm Beach, Fla., experienced a 40% annual
increase and a 54% increase in homes under contract, indicating an especially
strong fourth quarter. Palm Beach sales volume now is comparable to its 2007
peak. These figures were gleaned by brokers in each locale.
<snip>
TODAY
Downturn's Ugly Trademark: Steep, Lasting Drop in Wages
By SUDEEP REDDY
WSJ Jan 11, 2010
In California, former auto worker Maria Gregg was out of work five months last
year before landing a new job—at a nearly 20% pay cut.
In Massachusetts, Kevin Cronan, who lost his $150,000-a-year job as a money
manager in early 2009, is now frothing cappuccinos at a Starbucks for $8.85 an
hour.
In Wisconsin, Dale Szabo, a former manufacturing manager with two master's
degrees, has been searching years for a job comparable to the one he lost in
2003. He's now a school janitor.
They are among the lucky. There are 14.5 million people on the unemployment
rolls, including 6.4 million who have been jobless for more than six months.
But the decline in their fortunes points to a signature outcome of the long
downturn in the labor market. Even at times of high unemployment in the past,
wages have been very slow to fall; economists describe them as "sticky." To an
extent rarely seen in recessions since the Great Depression, wages for a swath
of the labor force this time have taken a sharp and swift fall.
<snip>
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