but I’ve been seeing something I haven’t seen in a long time… Burger King, Wendy’s, McDonalds and the nursing home by my house all have Help Wanted signs posted on the street.  Three or four restaurants around work also have signs in their windows.  On top of that, there was a radio blurb I heard recently about how Utah no longer qualified for extended Federal unemployment help.  My employer has a policy that no hire is placed until it’s approved by the CEO, yet we have positions posted every week and they aren’t entry level (although there are always several of those too).  If you know a JAVA programmer in UT, AZ or TX we’re offering a hiring bonus (team is in SLC but they’re willing to take hub location hires at this point) and I would be happy to forward the resume.

In addition, home prices are rising and the buyer that DH has been shepherding around was told by her lender that she should plan on offering more than the asking price if she expected to land a HUD or HomePath home.  It’s become a sellers market because there are people moving into the state and not enough houses to go around.

Yet, after the election in France and the movement against balanced budgets in Europe (and the inability of the US Congress and President to balance our budget).  I can’t help but wonder if this is just a short lived bump and we’re going to double dip.  Then the jobs report came out and the numbers for the last 2 months were revised downward.  They keep saying that there are no construction jobs hiring since building hasn’t recovered and isn’t expected to recover for some time.  The next story is one about how the average unemployed person in Utah claims benefits for less than 14 weeks so the state is going to lower the rate that employers pay for the premium toward unemployment insurance.

I cannot live on fear, I need to take things one day at a time and be happy with what I have now without worrying about what the future will bring.  Live as if today is your last day but spend as if you will be broke tomorrow.