Economic Outlook: July 2009 Archives

I know that it's popular now for working-class people to look to the more wealthy among us for cash assistance.

Lawmakers are wrangling with proposed healthcare legislation that, if passed, could require those who make more than $250,000 a year to help fund the bill through increased taxes.

It's easy, especially in these tough economic times, to look to the rich to shoulder part of the burden.

However, many of these wealthy people own and operate businesses that supply jobs to the rest of us.

How many of you think that those wealthy people will pay the increased taxes related to healthcare reform and not cut somewhere else, like your job or your friend's job.

The government can make those rich people pay higher taxes, but it can't tell them where to get the money from.

They're not going to sell their large homes or their boats to pay the taxes. They're going to do what many other business owners do. Consolidate.

In short, the new healthcare plan may make doctor visits more affordable, but it may not do much for employment.

At 6:30 a.m. today, I was stationed at the entrance of the Harley-Davidson plant in Springettsbury Township.

My goal was to catch workers as they left the plant and ask them what they thought of the company's second-quarter earnings.

I had time to be turned down by one worker before plant security requested that I leave the property.

Undeterred, I visited a host of local businesses in search of the elusive Harley worker.

I even spotted two workers at a gas station on the corner of North Sherman Street and Route 30. Unfortunately, they let the roar of their motorcycle engines voice their opinion.

However, at Denny's in York, I finally had some luck, sort of.

I ran into Jim Booth, a Connecticut resident who rode in town on the back of a Honda VTX 1300 to take a tour of the local Harley-Davidson plant.

Two weeks ago, Booth opted to buy the Honda rather than a Harley. Price, not quality, was the deciding factor.

Booth said people often point to the bike and mistake the Honda for a Harley.

"I tell them it's the Japanese Harley," he said

Since June 21, more than 6,000 people have applied for jobs at Church & Dwight's new Arm & Hammer plant in Jackson Township.

Of the 250 jobs available, that means roughly 24 people are competing for each job.

In May, 19,300 York County residents were unemployed, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry.

Currently, York County is home to 98 retail spaces that measure more than 20,000 square feet, according to Rock Commercial Real Estate in York.

Of those 98 spaces, 21 are currently vacant or soon to be vacant.

Based on the downturn in economy, it's been tough for developers to fill those spaces with traditional retailers.

If not retailers, what type of business should fill those properties?

Churches? Gyms? Daycare centers?

What do you think?