Woo hoo! I thought I was the only one to read this blog, and today I got a comment from Alberto Cottica, member and founder of the band Fiamma Fumana, which is a band that I’ve really enjoyed since first seeing them in Detroit in 2001. They were so good at the Detroit Festival of the Arts, that we went back to see them a second time a day or two later at the same festival. I also ran many blocks in the humid summer heat to get money from an ATM to buy the first album on the spot!

Pretty cool to get a comment from my favorite economics accordionist! I hope they come back to Detroit again soon.

I wouldn’t want anyone to think I’m too up on Detroit today. There’s mixed reports out on Detroit. The good one is the report that the Detroit Regional Economic Partnership has “helped 45 companies either expand or locate in the Detroit region, generating investments totaling $66 million and adding 644 new jobs during the year ended June 30.”

The bad new, of course, starts with the area’s foreclosure rate, which is second worst in the nation, just behind Stockton, California (yuck) and just ahead of Las Vegas, Nevada (again, yuck). What a great group to be in: Stockton the overpriced, overly bland bedroom community of Northern California’s Central Valley, and Las Vegas, overly bland stucco tract housing in the dessert surrounding Sin City, were only the worst of society enjoys a stay.

The second bit of bad news contradicts the first bit (o.k., only bit of good news) of the Detroit Regional Economic Partnership report about business expansion and creation. According to the Detroit News, the state’s economy is stalled, and that business growth in the area fell dramatically in the last twelve months.

When Detroit bottoms out it may become a good investment. Question is when will that be? We’ve got much needed water (if it doesn’t all drain out…), and cheap land. Unfortunately, I think we’re still on the way down…but one day, it’ll head back up (I hope).