Where are we headin’ in 2011?

My theme song for 2011 is gonna be that ’70’s disco song by the Bee-Gee’s.  You know, the song from the 1977 hit “Saturday Night Fever”.  It goes something like, “Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk, I’m a woman’s man, no time to talk……Ah ah ah ah, stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive.” 

Oh, if only it were 1977 again.  We’d be enjoying 6.5% unemployment, celebrating the completion of the World Trade Center in New York, and wondering what in the hell this Apple computer thing is that just hit the market.  And I bet you didn’t know that France performed their last execution by guillotine in 1977….it’s crazy what you will come across on the internet. 

But now, our country is stuck in a never ending quagmire of 1o% unemployment, the World Trade Center is being rebuilt after sitting as a full city block of wreckage for the past ten years, and all we hear about on the news is what wireless carrier Apple is in cahoots with to sell more handheld phone/music player/computer things.   

Oh God, how things have changed. 

Nevertheless, we still have the same goals.  What they are exactly may differ from one individual to another, but I think we all have a similar idea.  We need to get more work, especially for those of us in the construction industry.  While some of the gainfully employed may not care very much about the employment dilemma in the construction industry, this is a big issue for this country and has to be rectified or…..uh, gulp, we’re gonna have some real problems. 

So the question is if this year is going to be the year that our careers and lives get resurrected from the living hell that has been the past two years?  Well, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say: Probably not. 

This is not to say that things won’t improve a little bit, because I think they will.  I read all those statistics on construction starts and stuff like that, and while they do predict a modest uptick for 2011, it will be far from a gangbuster flood of money into our pockets. 

I just don’t think there is enough growth from businesses to start building new office space or renovating the office space that they have.  Everyone, especially banks, are holding their money like it’s a piece of their flesh and blood without which they would shrivel up and fall to the earth leaving only a small pile of lifeless dust. 

Should companies start renovating and building new space now in anticipation of growth and expansion?  Absolutely.  Will they?  Absolutely not.  Why?  Because they are obsessed with short term profits and if they spend money now that does not turn into profit, like, tomorrow, the boss will be cashin’ an unemployment check faster than you can say quarterly dividend. 

Are we going to get some work and be able to sustain ourselves for this year?  We should, but our goal for 2011 really should be: Stayin’ Alive. 

Ah ah ah ah Stayin’ Alive.