Emilie Ritter Saunders was StateImpact Idaho's multimedia reporter until the project merged with the Boise State Public Radio site in July 2013. She previously worked as the Capitol Bureau Chief for Montana Public Radio and was a Senior Fellow with NPR's Economic Training Project from 2009 until 2010. She graduated from the University of Montana School of Journalism in 2007.
Take another look at the five stories that got the most clicks this week (it sure got Mugsy-the-dog’s attention)…
In the Wake of Foreclosure, a Debt That Won’t Die: Ben and Lori Jensen thought after they lost their home to foreclosure the ordeal would be over, instead they were sued for the remainder of their home loan. Molly Messick explains why more deficiency judgements are being filed.
Idaho Forest Group Buys Lewiston Sawmill: A Coeur d’Alene company is buying the Clearwater Paper sawmill in Lewiston for $30 million. 250 people will lose their jobs, it’s not clear how many of them will be hired back, or when. Continue Reading →
The Idaho Business Review is reporting north Idaho lawmaker Phil Hart is being sued for nearly $550,000 in unpaid income taxes, penalties and interest. The U.S. government is asking Idaho’s federal district court to sign off on foreclosing some of Hart’s property in Kootenai County.
Hart is a Republican from Hayden, Idaho. He’s serving his fifth term in the Idaho Legislature. IBR.com reports Hart also has a state tax lawsuit awaiting trail in the Idaho Supreme Court.
“He’s also faced ethics hearings in the Legislature, though he avoided a vote after stepping down from the vice chairman position of an Idaho House committee.” – Idaho Business Review
The Idaho Business Review says this latest lawsuit is based on income tax assessments from 1996 to 2008.
“Hart has been a tax protestor, claiming that the government can’t constitutionally collect taxes on his wages, since at least the mid 1990s. He’s gone to court over his federal taxes, including an unsuccessful appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. On a personal website, Hart and his supporters have claimed that he’s paid his taxes since 1997 and that his tax protesting is a fight for freedom.” – Idaho Business Review
Coeur d’Alene-based Idaho Forest Group is purchasing the Clearwater Paper sawmill in Lewiston for $30 million. The Lewiston Tribune has been reporting on the sale throughout the day. The Tribune reports the sale includes Clearwater Paper’s sawmill, planer mill, dry kilns and finished inventories.
“Speculation about the deal had been circulating for more than two weeks in Lewiston. Clearwater Paper spokesman Matt Van Vleet had declined to comment on the pending acquisition multiple times, dismissing the speculation as rumors.” – Lewiston Tribune
Some Idaho business owners say the same thing: recession or recovery, it doesn’t really matter what it’s called, business is slow. Last week we talked with Idaho economists about this idea. Boise State University economics professor Don Holley says labeling trends “recession” or “recovery” does make a difference. “If we were still (technically) in a recession, if things were still going down, it’d be much worse” Holley says. Still, he points out, two years after the recession, Idaho isn’t back to economic productivity seen at the peak in 2007.
Junkyard Bistro
Mary Whalen and her husband have owned Junkyard Bistro for 4 years.
Mary Whalen co-owns Junkyard Bistro, a small restaurant in Salmon, Idaho. She feels like the recession is hitting her community now. “Our business is way down compared to what it was in 2009,” Whalen says. She says businesses in Salmon rely on the summer tourism season to make ends meet, and because of a long, wet spring, the season didn’t really start until July. “It (business) usually stays strong until November,” Whalen says, “We’ve already cut back our staff.” The move is about six weeks premature. “I almost thought the recession might help us because people weren’t traveling out of the country, but doing local trips,” Whalen says. “You can call it whatever you want to, business is down.” Continue Reading →
Idaho’s unemployment rate ticked down two-tenths of a percent in September, slipping below the national rate for the first time in nearly a year. The state’s seasonally adjusted rate is at 9.0 percent, nationally it’s at 9.1 percent.
Matt Stiles / StateImpact NPR
27 of Idahos 44 counties recorded lower September unemployment rates than in August
Idaho Department of Labor spokesman Bob Fick says many sectors are performing better, or about the same, as they were during Idaho’s economic expansion from 2003-2007. “That suggests that we really have hit the bottom and may finally be starting to, the economy may be starting to claw its way out of the recession into recovery,” says Fick. Continue Reading →
A: When you talk about a business cycle, you have a downturn and an upturn. The downturn is the recession and the upturn is the recovery. Once you hit the bottom and start to come up, you’re in recovery, but you certainly haven’t gotten back to where you were before. Even a year and a half later, 2 years later, we’re not back to where we were in 2007. So, although we’re technically in a recovery, we certainly haven’t recovered back to where we were before. The downturn, the bottom, we’ve passed the bottom – but nowhere close to where we were.
Q: Â Are you seeing signs of recovery in Idaho?
A: Employment has leveled off and has started to increase. Home sales have stopped going down as fast as they were and have leveled off – in some places they’re starting to increase. Housing prices aren’t falling as fast as they used to. Auto sales are up from a year ago – they’re still half of what they were 3 or 4 years ago. So yes, we see signs of recovery. Continue Reading →
Idaho’s economy, like the national economy, has technically been in recovery mode since June 2009. That’s when the latest recession ended. It lasted 18 months, from December 2007 until June 2009. The National Bureau of Economic Research is the group of independent economists that makes these declarations.
Here at StateImpact Idaho, we’re trying to find out if these declarations really mean anything. So we spoke with three local economists. Each agrees a recession is loosely defined as a prolonged downturn in the economy. It’s when gross domestic product doesn’t increase over a period of time and the production of goods and services stalls. Continue Reading →
Here’s a closer look at Idaho’s 2010 private sector gross state product, in millions of dollars.
[spreadsheet key=”0AiLU6Cs5LWZIdHJNaVpiZWVNV1JzaHhvZWVRQkJFb3c” source=”U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis” sheet=0 filter=0 paginate=0 sortable=1]
According to the Idaho Department of Labor, the value of all goods and services produced rebounded in 2010 by 3.3 percent. Losses were still recorded in the construction, real estate and management sectors.
We’re on a mission to find out from economists, business owners, workers and everyone in between what the words Recession and Recovery mean in Idaho. Here’s what three economists had to say.
State of Idaho
“It’s almost like economists who are focusing on this narrow view of what constitutes a recession have almost made themselves irrelevant. Most people don’t feel like we’re recovering.”
– Mike Ferguson, Idaho’s former chief economist
Boise State University
“We’re in a recession. In the popular use of the term, we’re still in recession, even though the economy isn’t in decline – we’re still in recession, we’re not back to where we were before.”Â
– Don Holley, Boise State University Economics Professor
Kevin Quinn / Spokesman Review
“For the average person, it’s hard to tell the difference between the recession and the recovery because it’s not having that much impact on wages and salaries, their ability to find jobs and their wealth.”
– Kathryn Tacke, Regional Economist, Idaho Department of Labor
Tell us what Recession and Recovery mean to you.
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