Confidence Cracks In Queen City’s Economy
It’s probably a safe bet this wasn’t what Mayor Anthony Foxx was expecting when he released his first TV campaign commercial that focused on job creation: a nearly total collapse in local confidence of economic conditions in Charlotte-Mecklenburg for the fourth quarter of 2011.
That’s the take-away from the latest release of the Charlotte Business Confidence Index, which asks local business owners and leaders about their expectations for the upcoming economic quarter. Results soured in all six categories, from local and national economic outlooks, to sales and profits expectations, to hiring and capital expenditures expectations, with every single fourth-quarter index value posting declines from the previous quarter.
Based on responses from business owners, an index value above 50 indicates a positive outlook; below 50, a negative outlook. The overall business confidence index for the fourth quarter limped in at 46.3, down 8.7 from the previous quarter. Despite sales and profit expectations treading water above 50 (ranked, respectively, at 55.9 and 52.5), both slipped from the expectations business owners expressed in the previous quarter, with sales expectations dropping 7.4 points and profit expectations down 6.6.
On an equally troubling note, index values fell for both hiring expectations and capital expenditure expectations. Business owners showed little confidence on the hiring front, with an index value of 48.3 (down 6.7 from the previous quarter). Similarly, expectations tumbled for local business owners to ramp up capital expenditures, with their confidence for more spending slipping to 44.6, down 7.1 points from the previous quarter.
GOP mayoral candidate Scott Stone was quick to pounce on the anemic numbers, blasting Foxx on the jobs front.
“The business community has lost confidence in the mayor’s ability to grow jobs and put Charlotte back on the path to recovery,” Stone wrote in a press release. “The Foxx economy is clearly not working for Charlotte.”
Foxx’s campaign ad, which hit the airwaves this week, succinctly sums up the mayor’s long-standing position on his history of job creation and moving Char-Meck’s economy forward:
OK, wrong vid. Here’s Foxx’s ad; tell me the difference:
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