A Sign that the Economy is Recovering?

We're all looking for a sign, any sign, that the economy might be starting to recover. Are people spending more? No. Is the stock market doing well? No. Are home foreclosure rates going down? Not yet...but they might be.

Builders are building less new properties, which is actually a good thing. This could create a domino effect of sorts. When builders build less, buyers will buy foreclosed homes or homes that are in danger of being foreclosed upon. This will be a small, tiny, minute spark that could be a step in the right direction. When there are less foreclosed properties on the market, these homeowners can move on with their lives, banks can breathe a sigh of relief, we won't have to bail them out, and they'll also be spending money again.

It might not be a major sign, but it's a small sign of hope, even though the results of this happening may not be visible for months.

Mortgage Relief on the Way?

While the economy may not have bottomed out just yet, the foreclosure rate on homes might just be slowing down. Banks are not as eager to foreclose on homes as they have been, while it is being discussed today whether or not to use $50 billion of the money from the bailout plan to help subsidize home owners that are on the brink of defaulting on their mortgages. Will this benefit us, or is this a huge mistake?

You can read the full article here featured at Marketwatch.

SideSplitteres Featuerd on T-Shirt Legends

This past week, SideSplitters was lucky enough to be featured on the T-Shirt Legends blog. There's a link to our store, as well as a small blurb by me, the shopkeeper that should be coming soon.

I wanted to point this blog out to other CafePress shopkeepers. Links have enormous importance to the success of your shop. If you don't have inward links to your shop, your long term success is very limited. The great part of this blog is that it's a free way to get out there and tell the world a little bit more about your t-shirt store, and what makes it unique.

You can visit the home page of T-Shirt Legends here and see all of the posts, as well as submit your own blurb if you're a fellow CP shopkeeper.

By the way, are you using Squidoo to promote your CafePress items? This is another place that will help get your work out to the masses and showcase it so it looks great. It also has a PageRank of 8! If you're not using it, you're missing out, plain and simple.

Obama Explains the Bailouts and Spending Bill

Anti Obama? Why Not?

During the election of 2008, Anti Obama merchandise was almost just as hot of a seller as the pro Obama merchandise. Why? There's several theories. Maybe there was too much competition in the Obama t-shirts category, and there were just too many products to compete with. Or, maybe there really is a genuine huge audience of people that do not support our new President. There's a difference between supporting the opposite party and being "anti Obama." So what does it mean?

If you're anti, you're very against what this person stands for. Or, you can't stand the person because of what they are. Or, you could be so strongly aligned with the opposite party that you automatically despise anyone who tries to run that's a Democrat. I think we experienced sales from all of the above during the 2008 election. The sentiments of these people are not going anywhere, they're just waiting for the year 2012, and they're waiting to see what the big change is going to be, if any at all.

Whatever your political stance, we can all agree that the President has a lot to prove, and a lot of people to win over. And to those anti Obama supporters, why not? It's a free country, and that's what makes it so great.

New Site Design for SideSplitters

I've updated the site and given it a new look, I think you'll like it much better. The page features a Republican/Democrat theme background with our best images right at the forefront of things. As new great designs are created, they'll be added to the front page. I also added a button to follow us on Twitter. I'm happy with the way it came out, and the page loads much faster than before..now to just reformat this blog! I'll be redesigning more pages on the site, as well as cleaning up things and adding more content as time goes on. As always, new designs will be added weekly (new designs are being worked on diligently right now!).

Thanks for supporting this store and spreading the word!

Obama Biden Announce Middle Class Task Force

The economy shrank by 3.8% in the last three months of 2008 in the United States. Business are making fewer investments, there are fewer jobs, and people aren't spending. Layoffs continue, 2.6 million jobs were lost in 2008, and another 2.8 million had to settle for part time employment.

Personally, you must know someone who has lost their job, lost some of their retirement, lost their home, or a car. To combat this downward economy, Obama has proposed the Middle Class Task Force.

What is the middle class task force?

Joe Biden is the leader of the middle class task force. As a working class kid from Scranton, Pennsylvania, Obama feels Biden is an excellent pick to head this task force. To focus on policies to benefit the middle class, to make sure workplaces are fair, to strenghten the labor movement of the United States.

Obama's argument is that when workers prosper, they buy products and help the overall economy. Part of his proposed changes will also prevent taxpayer dollars going to contractors to reimburse federal unions. Investments in cleaner energy technology were proposed, as well as educational investments to benefit the middle class.