Final Test

As the nation’s economy continues to struggle, electrical contractors around Utah County are feeling the effects as layoffs continue to plague the industry.

Contractors throughout Utah County have had the hard decision of whether to start laying off their employees in this down economy. Not only has the economy slowed production of buildings but has also driven prices to all time lows which have forced contractors to lay off some of their best employees.

“I can keep my guys working for a few more weeks but if I don’t get a big job soon I will be forced to lay most of them off.” said Jon Cutler, owner of Cutler Electric Inc. Jon has been the owner of his business since 2002 and hasn’t seen the industry this bad. Most contractors are getting to the point where they will no longer have a choice of whether to keep their employees or not.

The stimulus money from the federal government’s recent bailout has had very little effect on the electrical industry since most of the money went to the building of roads.

Consolidated Electrical Distributors, one of the leading distributors in the area is feeling the same effect as the contractors. “We are still barely making money at this point but that could change pretty quick, which might force me to lay off some of my most valued employees.” said Jarem Shook, manager of CED’s Provo location. CED is one of seven electrical distributors in Utah County.

The federal government has given many tax breaks and incentives recently for homeowners and contractors hope that this will help people feel confident in building homes again. The residential building market has been dead since the downturn in the economy. The commercial and industrial markets have been able to keep most contractors in business but even these markets are beginning to slow down.

Contractors hope the economy will make a turn for the better or many will be forced to lay off most of their employees or shut their doors altogether.

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NBA Playoffs

Yesterday was the last day of the regular season for the NBA and now its on to the good stuff. Unfortunately as a Jazz fan the season ended on a down note but at least we made the playoffs right. That's more then fourteen other teams can say. Here are the match ups. In the East we have Cleveland playing Detroit in the 1-8 match up, we have Boston playing Chicago in the 2-7, we have Orlando playing Philly in the 3-6, and we have Miami playing Atlanta in the 4-5 match up. For the West we have Los Angeles playing Utah in the 1-8, Denver playing New Orleans in the 2-7, San Antonio playing Dallas in the 3-6 and Portland playing Houston in the 4-5. The funny thing with the playoffs this year is that everyone thinks the two number one seeds are just going to fly through the playoffs to each other. That would be great for basketball honestly because in the finals we would have the two best players in the league playing each other for the NBA title. Those two for those of you who don't know would be Lebron James and Kobe Bryant. Its too bad people voting for the MVP of the league this year can't wait til the end of the playoffs cause more then likely we are going to see this match up in the finals. Kevin Garnett of the Celtics is out for the most if not all of the playoffs which we found out today and that just made Cleveland's road much easier to the Finals. It would be pretty hard pressed for the Celtics to have any chance at repeating with their star on the bench. In the west nobody really has a chance against the Lakers this year. They are just to deep on the bench and with some other contenders fighting injuries it looks like it will be a Lakers vs Cavs Finals this year which will be great TV.

April 15th

The dreaded tax day is today and many people are disheartened by the direction the country is going but as for thousands of conservatives that wanted to have an active voice on this day. Thousands of people gathered in thousands of locations for "Tea Parties" where they protested the outrageous spending of our government. These demonstrations showed that people are not just going to sit back anymore and let our government do whatever they want. Most of the people that participated in these tea parties are conservatives and disagree completely which how President Obama is running the country since he took office. The name for the "tea parties" came from the Boston Tea Party demonstration of 1776. After the Republican party lost the election pretty bad a few months ago there has been a lot of discussion of who the new leader of the party would be because the direction of the party was no very distinct. Some leaders of the party wanted to go somewhere in the middle and others wanted to go back to as far right as they could similar to the way that Ronald Reagan ran the country. But tonight no matter who the political leaders of either of the parties are it show a ray of hope in this country that many citizens do care about the country they live in and they are willing to do something about it. These tea parties acted as a voice to the government to stop wasteful spending. Not just from the republicans but by all citizens that feel this country has been to excessive recently. On this dreadful tax day today there was a great ray of hope across the country and I think that is exactly what this country needs at this time.

Easter Weekend!

When most people think of Easter weekend they start to think of their religion and specifically Jesus Christ and to be honest I do as well but Easter weekend also brings one of the most exciting weekends of the year for sports fans. THE MASTERS. The biggest golf tournament of the year. Each year golf lovers wait for the second weekend of April. The Augusta National golf club in Augusta, Georgia is one of the most prestigious golf courses in the country and every true golf lover would give anything to have a chance of golfing on this course. That must be one of the big reasons everyone loves watching the masters. They get to play this coveted course through their favorite player. Everyone has a favorite player but the one great thing about golf is that most fans are just looking for a great weekend of golf. No other sport engages their fans in such awe of the players. If you get a chance to watch the masters this Saturday or Sunday take a look at the faces of the fans that are their. They are in complete awe of the players. Golf is one of those games that every little mistake can change the entire day. Fans of the sport understand how miraculous it is that these golfers hit this ball with such precision and accuracy. I love the weekend of the masters. Its a wonderful time of years. Although there are many other reasons to celebrate Easter I love the Masters.

Obama finds more trouble with Rush!

Rush Limbaugh has always been the democrats worst nightmare but it has gotten even worse for Barack Obama. He seems to do something everyday that gives Rush his next day's topic. The funny thing about the situation is that Rush's support is growing everyday and Baracks seems to be sliding. Most people have heard of Rush Limbaugh but a lot of people have never listened to his radio show. Over the past few weeks the Liberal media has taken shot after shot at Rush for supposedly wanting Obama to fail at his policies. So as any smart radio host would do Rush invited everyone to give his show a chance and listen to what he was saying instead of listen to others that are telling them what Rush is saying. To no conservatives surprise Rush's listener base is at its all time high and it continues to grow. It seem Barack Obama is more worried about what Rush is saying then worrying about the things he needs to do to start reversing the direction the country is going in. Most people loved the idea of Obama because of his motto "change we can believe in" the problem is that most people never looked any deeper then that statement to see his radical ideas and views. Barack Obama entered office as the second most popular president of the United States and now only 3 months after he began he now has one of the highest disapproval rates in history. His approval rating is still very high but is fall and his disapproval rate is growing rapidly. Recently Obama took a trip over to Europe to help reassure them with his confidence. And many would agree that he did just that the problem is that he downplayed the U.S. in doing that. Stabbing his own country in her back by telling others we are arrogant and irresponsible. The mainstream media hasn't reported that to be a problem, but good old Rush has seized upon the opportunity and has given much needed insight into the matter. Isn't it interesting that the most listened to radio talk show and the most watched cable news show are both conservatives. No wonder Barack is having a hard time keeping his ratings up.