Jan. 1, 2013, East End of Long Island
It’s a new year on the calendar but in many ways we all remain the same person we were just yesterday, or in this case last year. I ran to buy a bottle of Champagne at the local spirits shop and while waiting on line I overheard the elderly gentleman in front of me tell the owner, “Well I am not going to die by falling off any fiscal cliff,” then he laughed and said, “ I am 89 years old, and I am not changing my short-term goals, just my long-term goals.” They both laughed, I then instantly came up with the idea for this blog: The Change Coming in 2013.
OK, forget the fact that your accountant will need an accountant to figure out your taxes due to the “unknown” ramifications of the new tax laws no one still understands is a wild card. And the new “Affordable Health Care Bill” needs to prove that it’s not unaffordable to the nation. Not to mention, is the economy going to “double dip” or recover?
Yet I believe this coming year will be the year of rebuilding. The whole of Long Island has been blasted with five huge storms in the last 18 months and everyone has been affected. Roofs, basements, trees, garages, fences, windows, gutters, and so forth are now being re-evaluated on the "2013 To Do” list of all homeowners and business owners.
The question is as always, “How will I get the money to do what need to be done?" This is something everyone is saying from the president of the United States and Congress right down to the unemployed scrambling to pay rent. But here’s what I say: All this misfortune of the last 18 months is going to create a new dynamic this spring, a renewal of energy that will somehow make things become better. Perhaps some federal aid will pay for beach cleanups, and rebuilding of parking lots, concession stands and restrooms. I am predicting right here right now in about five weeks, the East End summer rentals are going to get active and stay active because places like Fire Island won’t be ready for 2013. I have seen Fire Island, and there is no way its capacity will be anywhere near 2012's. This is a very sad fact.
Now as someone not born in Southampton Hospital,thus a transplant, I look at the residents of the East End as hard working, creative, enterprising and very skillful at maximizing the extraction of the discretionary funds of the summer season visitor. So much so the summer visitor sees a real value in it.
So I predict the following for 2013 on the East End:
1- Lots of small contracting work on homes
2- Lots of rental activity
3- Restaurants creeping back to the better numbers of 5 years ago.
4- More traffic,
5- More day visitors to the beaches (due to damage to up-Island beaches)
6- A turn around in the spirits of the struggling small business owners and more prosperity for the large already successful businesses.
Now I wish all Patch readers a Happy 2013 New Year!
I hope you right.
The caterwauling right-wing Cassandras will soon shut their gobs, waiting for a future Republican administration to create the NEXT economic catastrophe, at which point they will shake the moth balls from their hackneyed extremist catchphrases and claim, AGAIN, that the Democrats and Liberals are at fault, despite Republican paw prints covering every surface.
Boating and rentals were off last year and there is no reason to think things are getting better. unemployment is still high and all the taxes that kick in will drive the fragile economy into a new normal of bad times. that is simply what o promised. i dont know of any section eights renting oceanfront cottages. nor will the majority of the country do well as they hunker down. Yes, East Hampton may rent out but the rest of the country is still letting people go.
Actually, as of Oct. 5, President Obama had increased the debt by 52%, a far cry from doubling; and the unemployment rate is declining, despite your contrary assertion. Nonetheless, you are right in noting that if we do not halt the debt increase we face ultimate catastrophe (and even allowing it to stand will enervate the country) but it isn't as imminent as you predict. This year on the East End (the topic of the article) should be OK.
This is unsustainable and no amount of tax increases will address this issue. We need to cut spending, we need tax reform, we need entitlement reform and we need to end foreign aide.
However, as regards the East End in the short term, 2013, the outlook is positive.
summer season. If you are retired, or not working, having a larger influx of visitors will not make you happy......that point is understood
I guess in your mind the people who work for a Federal, State, municipal government, or even the military don't work because they are not part of the one hundred and eight million private sector jobs you mention.
The unemployment rate has declined from 10% in October, 2009 to 7.8% in November, 2012. As you note, 155,000 jobs were added in November. George the Worst annihilated five million jobs; President Obama has restored over two million, and counting.* *http://www.economicpopulist.org/content/unemployment-rate-78-and-unemployed-duration-drops-december-2012