5 ReputationProfessor-Com Steps by Doug Dvorak.

A slow economy is a difficult time for business and no salesperson welcomes it. As total business volume slumps, triggering apprehension of deeper recession and pessimism and uncertainty can prevail. However, it is an inevitable part of the economic cycle and businesses should learn to cope with it and salespeople should develop a strategy to survive and thrive. They should pursue only the best possible sales opportunities despite the hardships. Weak and inefficient salespeople are affected most in a slow economy and some even get wiped out, because all the negative news affects their attitude. Interestingly, many salespeople and businesses not only survive when the economy is slow, they also thrive. In addition to having quality products and services they follow some basic sales strategies to succeed in a difficult market which you too can follow:

1- Shift and Readjust Focus: The market composition changes when the economy is slow. Consumer demand and preferences change. Astuteness lies in studying and understanding the changes in the market and in consumer’s behavior. For example, a shoe manufacturer will notice that during a slump, consumers forego purchasing expensive designer shoes. But the sales of moderately priced shoes meant for the average consumer will purchase these brands unabated. The shoe manufacturer will be better off shifting focus to low end and moderately priced shoes rather than concentrating on high end - designer shoes. Similarly, financial and investment companies will find that the shares of certain industries still remain high despite an economic slow down. Industries related to food and other products that are basic to the needs of people will remain upbeat in a slump. Campbell’s Soup’s stock price has not depreciated significantly during this recession. The gaming industry has actually experienced growth during the current ongoing recession. Some computing companies haven’t yet been introduced to the current recession. IBM for example, has registered growth for the second successive quarter. Investors can shift their focus to these industries. Even some companies that have experienced a decline in the value of their stocks will be worth investing in if they show enough promise of bouncing back soon.

2- More Thrust on Sales: When the economy is running smoothly or booming many salespeople become mere order takers and are not delivering value to their clients. There is hardly any skill required to push sales as the brand name of the product and huge consumer demand automatically result in sales. But when the economy slows down, consumer demand dips for a large range of products. That’s when sharp sales skills should be used to keep sales figure up. The smart ones succeed in selling reasonably well despite the hard times. Organizations should reassess their sales strategies as well as the efficiency of their sales teams. There may be a need for weeding out non-performers from the sales team and rewarding the performers. Companies should have a well defined and effective sales process in place. All salespeople should adhere to the sales process and apply every ethical sales method that is known to them to get a sale. The possibility of online sales should be fully explored, as Forrester Research points out, that online consumers will spend $3000-4000 per year and their desire to spend is unlikely to be affected by recession.

3- Emphasis on Customer Service: In good economic times you may get away with poor customer service. But during tough economic times a single slighted customer could prove to be very costly. Customers expect prompt service and due attention, especially when they have come forward and chosen to buy your product. Organizations should remember that the transaction doesn’t end when they deliver the product and receive payments. It is just the beginning of a process that may require further rendering of service to the customer. A happy customer invariably becomes a repeat customer. A company can save money and effort by concentrating more on existing customers through impeccable customer service.

4- Slashing Prices: One of the weapons of fighting a recession is slashing prices of products and services as much as possible to stay competitive attract new buyers and gain market share, while still making profits. Microsoft has slashed its prices of the Xbox consoles to stay ahead in the booming gaming market. To compete with Nintendo and Sony and capture a sizeable chunk of the gaming market during the holiday season, the decision to cut prices seemed very logical for Microsoft.

ReputationProfessor.Com Positive by Jim L Jackson.

Almost all news you hear or see today is about the downward economy. People are losing jobs, the price of gasoline is skyrocketing; and then there is the dreaded “R” word, Recession. As a leader, you are supposed to be upbeat and optimistic about the current economy. No matter where you go someone will ask you how business is because it can be one of the barometers for the economy. You try to explain that you have no crystal ball and you have no idea how the market is relative to your community, and you do this all with a happy face. After all, they may be a potential buyer. You then casually ask how their business is and they may say, reluctantly, they wanted to buy a widget today but the economy feels sluggish and, they’re just not sure about anything. Perhaps they will just save their money. They have a look on their face like they did you a favor by not purchasing a widget today! As they walk away they say thanks for your insight into the economy, you may have saved them from investing in a widget, of all things. No sale today, maybe after the elections, inauguration or the New Year.

In that very moment you wish that conversation had never come up and long for the good old days when the news was lighter - when people felt confident enough to want and purchase a new widget. How can you not talk about the economy? How can you keep a positive attitude when the economy stinks?

Sound familiar and painful? You know you need a positive spin to rev up your sales team who are wondering how to meet their goals in such a dismal economy. After all, they have had the same conversations with each other on your showroom floor. You may even have a little doubt in your own mind. If only you could just avoid the whole situation, maybe it will all be different tomorrow.

STOP IT NOW! Stop talking about the economy! Stop telling people that business is slow. Stop all the negative whining about the economy. JUST STOP IT! The more you dwell on your perceived observation of the economy the more you look for proof you are right. STOP IT NOW!

Below are four keys to creating a positive and prospering market around you.

1. Focus on what you want. If you focus on the potholes while you are driving, you’re going to hit the potholes. Instead, focus on a way around the potholes. When you’re talking to your staff or customers, indicate business is great and now is the perfect time to buy. Never talk about how tight money is for you (or anyone else, for that matter). Words trigger pictures that create emotions. How do you think people will feel if they hear the boss talking about how bad things are? You, as the leader or a team player, should talk about success and how great it is to work in a winning business.

2. Create a perception of value. Would you trade me a one-dollar bill for my twenty-dollar bill? It may be a good deal for you, but is it a good deal for me? It is if I perceive the value of a one-dollar bill is worth more than the twenty. Let’s say I’m dying of thirst and the bottle of water requires a one-dollar bill. Then yes, it is a great trade. Your job is to create value now that helps customers feel good about their purchase.

3. Create a positive environment. The only place you talk about the slow economy is with your competition. Let them believe that the market is bad if they so choose. However, you want people to feel good when they are in your house. So, take charge and a build strong belief in your people and yourself that you can prosper in any economy because you have the best team, the best product, and the best location.

4. Plant encouraging and positive ideas, discard negative ideas. Read positive material or listen to inspirational CD’s - in other words, work on putting positive thoughts in your head. And, if you must watch the news, the second it is over say to yourself (out loud is even better), I am thankful that business is great at my place.

You might argue that I don’t know how tough it is for you or what its like where you live. You’re right. But, I have traveled all over these great United States and I have seen hundreds of people just like you, and they are winning. Every day I see people who know that no matter what is going on in the marketplace, there are many ways to win in this economy. You have a choice each day as to how you will face that day. Your choice is either one of adversity or prosperity. People who start the day with a prosperity mindset automatically think of creative ways to outsmart the market. People with a prosperity mindset look for ways to inspire people to go where they did not think they could go. Leaders with a prosperity mindset see the obstacles as an opportunity to win when others might see only doom and gloom.

ReputationProfessor.Com Issues By: dane.

Though the housing bubble deflated about two years ago, its true effects are only now beginning to emerge. In late 2006, when the economy first began to show signs of weakness in the housing market, most economists predicted that a recession was very unlikely, and that any downturn in real estate prices would be localized and mild. In reality, a global downturn is now a real threat, with the final price of the credit crunch projected to exceed $1 trillion dollars.

Not only have falling house prices in the US spread to other markets abroad, they have contributed to massive losses in other areas of lending such as credit cards, and the financial industry, which is now reeling from the US government bailout of Bear Stearns. What does this mean for emerging economies like China and India? In the short term, volatility seems to be the order of the day, with India’s fledgling exchanges rocked by jittery investors. Until financial centers and investors can regain confidence, market conditions will be exaggerated. Early trading also plays a psychological role for investors, as news developments impact Asia before Wall Street opens.

The US and the UK both face difficult home pricing corrections which will continue to hamper growth. Most homeowners expect, if not to make a profit, not to sell their houses at a loss, which is a difficult pill to swallow. And if they can’t sell their homes for what they think they’re worth, then waiting it out contributes to prices falling, thus exacerbating the problem.

While government intervention has been exceptionally forthcoming in efforts to preserve confidence in financial markets, less attention has been given to homeowners who are being foreclosed on over the next year, which is only so low because of robust growth in Asia.

Another prospect which looms over every government is the specter of inflation, which threatens to overtake the slumping economy as the number one priority for the Federal Reserve and other central banks, who have had to take extreme action to prevent further liquidity losses. The Fed has sold off over $100 billion in auctions and lowered interest rates five times in an attempt to lower mortgage interest rates, but confidence will remain shaky until the full extent of investment bank’s sub-prime exposure is realized.

Profit from ReputationProfessor.Com author Jay Wagner.

The current economy is in bad shape – at least that’s what all of the pundits tell us. The conventional wisdom in times like these is to put stop loss orders on everything, put everything you can into blue chips, or settle for the safe, low returns of Treasury securities.

I’m here to tell you that the conventional wisdom is foolish.

In the first place, the conventional wisdom is contradictory. You can’t have automatic trades to comply with stop loss orders going on constantly and maintain major holdings in blue chips. Even the blue chips – maybe especially the blue chips – are subject to market volatility. When the economy is bad, inflation becomes a major concern, and the market starts requiring a higher return on investment. At the same time, the bad economy drives sales downward, reducing corporate incomes and, by extension, return on stockholders’ investment. The result is market dissonance that exacerbates existing market volatility. The general trend is for prices to go down, and the easier a security is to trade the more precipitous its price decline tends to be. This is simply a function of supply and demand: more people want out than in, so supply exceeds demand and prices drop.

Supply and demand also accounts for what happens with bonds, notes, and commercial paper. In a difficult economy, fixed income securities are less appealing because of inflation concerns. Here again, people trying to get out of fixed income securities outnumber those trying to get in, so prices go down and both current yield and yield to maturity go up. At the same time, new debt issues of any kind are almost impossible to sell, and, with the rest of the credit market similarly tightened, companies are unable to borrow necessary cash at reasonable rates, forcing them to offer their debt placements at rather deep discounts. The bottom line is, they must raise cash to weather the economic storm, and they will pay handsomely to get it.

You’re seeing it today on every news channel: the prices of securities are declining virtually across the board. Your broker may be telling you to cover everything with stop loss orders and trade, trade, trade. That may be a case of your broker subscribing to the conventional foolishness, or it may be a case of your broker trying to protect his income: after all, commissions come from trades, and your broker lives on commissions. The question I have to ask is why would you want to sell now? It makes about as much sense as buying merchandise at Nieman Marcus to resell at Wal Mart. This is not, I repeat not, the time to sell. The economy is on an express elevator to the bargain basement, to be sure, but history tells us that when it comes to the stock market, what goes down must come up. Knowing that, this is the time to get in on the bargains. That “next Microsoft” that everyone is looking for might be trading for far less than its legitimate value right under your nose right now!

Growing up in Kansas, I was acquainted with a man who had amassed vast holdings of farm and ranch land. He was an eighth grade dropout, and I often wondered how he came to be so wealthy, so I finally asked. “Son,” he said, “Most of my land was bought back during the dust bowl, when farmers and ranchers were selling off their land or bankers were foreclosing and then trying to get what cash they could from the deal. I was just a farmhand back then, but I had a little money saved up, and when land dropped below twenty-five cents an acre I started buying. As the economy started to pick up, I used that land to borrow against and buy more land. By the time the drought was over, I owned almost ten sections [note: there are 640 acres in a section] and hadn’t spent $1,000 to get it.” At the time that we had that conversation (about 1972), his $1,000 investment made between 1930 and 1939 was worth over $3 million, an annualized return on investment of around 25%.

Do you have “a little money saved up” that could be used to pick up the bargains available in the current markets? My friend knew that the drought that caused the dust bowl wouldn’t last forever, and he made a fortune from other people’s panic. Investors are in a panic now, but if you’re smart their panic is your opportunity.

Investments to Avoid

In a struggling economy, investors tend to make the same mistakes over and over, and those mistakes take two forms: running for “safe harbor” and becoming extremely active traders in anything that is going up.

The safe harbor crowd always runs to one of two places, blue chip stocks and Treasury securities. As we have already discussed, blue chips are probably the roughest safe harbor you can go to, rather akin to anchoring in Galveston Bay during Hurricane Ike. Market volatility tends to have a more pronounced effect on blue chips: add the fact that blue chip companies like General Motors, General Electric, and AIG are all fighting for life right now and a run for the blue chips is borrowing trouble rather than escaping it.

Treasury issues are, without a doubt, safe. After all, if the Treasury defaults the money is meaningless anyway. The problem is, this is a “safe” harbor full of purchasing power pirates. The return on Treasury securities rarely keeps pace with inflation in an economic downturn, so while your safe harbor investment may be earning you a return in nominal dollar terms, in real dollar terms you’re losing purchasing power. It doesn’t do much good to earn 3% on your money if prices are going up an average of 6%.

Sadly, many investors who don’t run for safe harbor become speculators, moving money constantly into anything that is going up at the moment. Since most of the market is going down, this all too often drives them to the derivatives market, especially in today’s economy where oil futures have, at times, exceeded $140 per barrel. The problem is, if you’re short at $120 per barrel and the spot market on the settlement date is $140 per barrel, you’ll have to either lose money on an offsetting long position, sell your short at a loss, or have 1,000 barrels of crude setting around that you can part with. On the other hand, if you have a long position for $140 and the spot price is $120, you get to lose money going short or selling the long position at a loss, or you get to take delivery of 1,000 barrels of crude that you’ll lose $20,000 selling on the spot market if you can’t store it and wait.

Some investments, especially derivatives, will go into bubble mode early in an economic downturn, but don’t let that fool you into entering the bubble with them. As any kid who ever chewed bubble gum or blew soap bubbles can tell you, bubbles burst. If your money is in the bubble when it bursts, you can wave goodbye to it as it is scattered on the winds of economic caprice.

Investments to Make

Some companies and industries have proven themselves to be amazingly resilient. Like everything else, their securities are or soon will be selling at bargain basement prices, and if they appear to be struggling the discounts may be extra deep. Do your homework, make sure that they are positioned to bounce back, but if they are, buy while the price is low.

The current debacle started with a meltdown in the sub-prime mortgage market. The result is a large number of foreclosures, with lenders ending up holding real estate when they need cash. As a result, real estate prices are falling, so if you can, this is a good time to buy real estate or invest in companies that are investing in real estate. The prices will go back up, just as they did for my friend who invested in farm and ranch land during the dust bowl.

Many brokers and analysts have an innate fear of high yield (so called “junk”) bonds. Admittedly, some high yields have gone under and become no yields, but as a rule the returns have been in line with the risks, and sometimes a little higher. During an economic downturn, there tend to be two types of high yield bonds on the market: those with something behind them and those with nothing behind them. The former are usually issued by companies that want the capital to invest while the market is down, generally in either income real estate or leveraged buyouts. These tend to be pretty good bets for a sizeable profit in a relatively short period of time, and they offer your investment some diversification while providing at least partial collateral from the assets they invest your money into. The latter are usually issued by companies that are cash strapped and have credit problems, and they’re offering them to raise working capital: as a rule, they’re a bad investment and far more likely to default than the secured high yields.

The best bargains, however, may be in small cap (so called “penny”) stocks, initial public offerings (IPOs), and various kinds of notes, especially those backed with some kind of collateral. Some of these securities (especially the notes) can have some pretty creative terms, but if you understand the terms they can be a good, and often high yield, investment.

However, He Said . . .

While you’re doing all of this bargain basement buying, it doesn’t hurt to put a few safeguards into your portfolio. These can take several forms, as you’ll see.

After spending the first part of this article giving you all of the reasons to avoid the rush to blue chips and Treasury securities, I now need to backtrack just a bit. I’m not going into the famous politician’s gambit that “I was against it before I was for it.” I’m still adamantly opposed to loading your portfolio with volatile blue chips and low yield Treasuries, but having a portion of your portfolio in these securities isn’t a bad thing. The blue chips may recover a little more quickly than the market at large, and the Treasury issues will at least provide a good final position in the event of a major, long-term depression.

There are, of course, other ways to protect your portfolio. As you know, I’m against riding bubbles, especially in the derivatives markets. However, derivatives can be used to hedge your positions. Worried that a rise in interest rates will devalue that investment in mortgage notes? Just hedge the position with Treasury note or Treasury bond futures. For example, one long 10 year Treasury note contract can effectively insure one $100,000 10 year mortgage against excessive value loss due to rising interest rates. This doesn’t tie the two inextricably together, but as 10 years Treasury note rates rise toward the level of the long position, its value increases to cover the value lost by the mortgage note.

Another thing that can help your portfolio is investment grade bonds, especially if they can be converted to common stock. The conversion capability tends to buoy the price some, and the bond income can provide money to cover short-term losses in other areas or help your income weather the economic storm.

ReputationProfessor.com Strategies By Frank Ramsey.

No matter how rich a person or a country is, there will always be tough times. In these tough times when the economy is in bad shape surviving a bad economy is a must for everybody. This will not only help themselves to adjust to the current situation but this is also one way of contributing to the overall survival. The following strategies no matter how simple they might be can somehow help a person to survive the downscaling economy.

On transportation:

- It is best to carpool more often. Make it a habit between you and a coworker to take turns in carpooling to the office. This is a good way of minimizing both your expenses in gasoline. If there are more than two of you living in your neighborhood much better, the more the merrier.

- Instead of buying new cars, old used ones. In these tough times, new cars are not a necessity. But still, you need a means of transportation. What best way to save up but to buy old cars and save up some money? When you buy used cars, it would costs you a lot cheaper.

- Put together different errands in one trip. Try to get all of the things you need to do in one trip or on your trip home. This lessens the number of trip you need to make and you can avoid from driving back and forth.

- Take up a hobby and ride a bike. If you live close to stores malls or places you usually go to, ride a bike instead of driving you car. It’s god exercise and it’s good for your health.

- Wash your car yourself. This one is a no-brainer, why spend on something you can do yourself. That’s right, you can do this yourself. Imagine the cost savings that you’ll be making. It’s not much on its own but it’s a lot altogether.

On eating:

- Eat like you’re on a diet. Try and eat off your kids plate sometimes, this will make you eat in smaller portions and you would even notice. This one works if you don’t go for seconds.

- Bottled water alternative. Tap water is the ultimate cheap fix. Try comparing an ounce of bottled water and an ounce of tap I’m sure you’ll see the difference.

- Less meat more savings. Imagine not having meat during the working week and having it on weekends instead. It will definitely cost you less than your usual tab.

On personal shopping:

- Generic is good. Brand loyalty is a thing of the past especially if it cost you a lot. More than anything else the generic substitutes allows you to have options.

- Be a bargain hunter. Despite the downscale, people would still always buy personal items for themselves. Getting good items while surviving a bad economy can be done by buying bargain stuff. Don’t just be contented with the low price the stores have, try and look around if there’s anything better.

The Changing ReputationProfessor-Com Economy By Dennis Kelley.

I recently read a story about a washing machine manufacturer in China. This Chinese company had produced a washing machine they were proud of and it was getting great reviews. However, they were starting to get complaints from some of their rural customers about the drain becoming clogged. After some investigation, they determined that some of these rural customers were using the washing machine to wash potatoes. Of course, this was not what the machine was designed to do. The manufacturer could have simply said this was the customer’s problem because they were using the machine improperly. Instead, they decided to add a vegetable-wash cycle to the machine. This is true innovation and clearly demonstrates their desire to be customer centric.

Being able to innovate in business is clearly one of the key areas of entrepreneurship. However, the idea of needing to innovate to succeed can be a little scary at times. Many people don’t believe that they are creative enough to do this well. Nothing could be further from the truth. You don’t need to be a creative genius to bring innovation to your business. However, innovation is the way businesses grow and change so you must pay attention to it. As the old saying goes, ‘You are either growing or dying, there is no such thing as standing still.”

Embracing change should be a way of life. While most people do not like to change, it is essential in business. You must constantly adjust the way you look at your business, your market and your competition. It is also extremely important to understand your customer and what changes are occurring with your target customer. By looking at each of these segments of your business, you will be able to determine where you need to innovate.

Innovation does not always need to be as radical as the example above. However, what the example does illustrate is how important it is to stay in touch with what is going on in your market and be willing to adapt to meet the changing needs of the market. In our current economic environment, this is especially true. As you look at your business, think about all the areas where innovation is appropriate. In fact, you could argue that every area of your business needs to be examined routinely for possible innovation.

Here are four areas to take a close look at right now. Ask yourself how these areas of your business are positioned today to handle the changing business climate. Be honest with yourself and ask others for their opinions. Talk to your employees, your customers, your business network and your mentors. Then decide what needs to change and start making the adjustments to keep you poised for success.

Marketing message - take a look at the message your marketing delivers. What are you saying to your prospects and customers? What about the positioning of the message? Is it speaking to people in a way that will attract them in the current climate? Is the message and offer you are giving meeting their needs today and is it persuasive enough to convince them to spend their precious dollars on it? Right now is a time when you may need to modify the way you deliver your message. Quality and value are always important in your message, but how you deliver it may need to change. Innovate the message based on what is important to your customers and prospects today. If you look closely, you will see this happening in many marketing and advertising campaigns for some of the largest and most successful companies in our economy.

Sales scripts - review your sales scripts and determine what you are saying and how it fits into the current environment. This includes your phone scripts, in-person sales scripts and your on-line sales scripts. Are you addressing people’s needs and concerns and showing them why your product is a good investment? Are the objections you get today the same as before and should you address them the same way? If you have salespeople, don’t assume they will modify their approach automatically. Pull the team together and conduct some brainstorming and training. How they approach prospects may need to become more creative right now as people become more cautious. Be proactive, not reactive in your sales process.

Product offerings - does your product line address today’s issues? Should you add a product or service to increase the value to deal with new issues your prospects face? Should you package products together to offer greater value? Can you modify a product or service to better position it within your market? Like the Chinese washing machine manufacturer - do your customers use your products in ways you didn’t expect and can you innovate to meet their needs? Can you offer different payment terms or methods of payment to make buying the product easier and more attractive?

Operational efficiency - take a look at how you make and deliver your product. Where and how can you improve this process to make it more efficient? Can you cut costs or improve quality? Should you outsource specific pieces of the business or conversely, should you bring more of it in-house.? Are there systems you can incorporate into the business that will increase capacity or lower costs? Take a look at every operational aspect of your business and question it all. You will be surprised at the improvements you can make.

ReputationProfessor.Com Skills by Bob Urichuck.

In today’s economy sales professionals need to be equipped with the appropriate selling skills, following a proven selling system or sales process, in order to succeed and meet their sales targets.

They can no longer afford to carry on with traditional selling skills of doing dog and pony shows, feature and benefit dumps, or hit and run closes.

Today’s economy demands engaging selling skills, not telling selling skills. Engaging selling skills attract and engage prospects into personal and business conversations - Personal conversations to build rapport and trust; Business conversations to qualify opportunities to do business.

Engaging sales skills starts with a desire to create relationships. Keep in mind that people buy from people, people they like and they trust. Once trust is established, a relationship starts. That is the sales skill foundation to a sales transaction.

To build that rapport, or trust, requires conversational selling skills focused on the prospect, not on you, your company or your products. The selling skill required here is to show a genuine personal interest in the person in front of you. You do that by asking questions, questions that they would like to respond to and talk about.

So, what do people like to talk about?

People like to talk about themselves, their families, hobbies, job, etc. These are more personal conversations. The selling skills required here are asking questions, listening and using your body language to show interest.

Your job is to get them to open up and to keep talking. The more they talk, the more you listen, the more you learn and the more they like and trust you.

Mind you there are also other selling skill techniques to build rapport. One of the best rapport building sales skills comes from Nero Linguistic programming (NLP) where mirroring and matching body language, tonality and words enhances rapport building quickly and magically.

You will know when your rapport selling skill has been established, just by the way the prospect has opened up with you. When they get to the point where they can’t stop talking, you know you got the rapport selling skill that would allow you to move onto the next step in the selling system, or sales process.

With rapport, trust and relationship starting, you can then move from personal to business conversation, by simply interjecting another question - Bill, I really appreciate what you are sharing with me, but how much time have you set aside for our meeting?

With the answer to this sales skill question, a new sort of business conversation starts. Your time allocated is either confirmed or extended, either of which matter, as it is the next sales skill question that will make the difference.

“Bill, what is it that you would like to accomplish over the next X minutes?”

Most sales people only think of their objective, and not that of the customers. It is the customer’s objective that is most important, so let’s get it out of them first. Then we can add our’s into the scenario.

For example, they could reply with, “I would like to learn more about your company and it’s products or services.”

You can then reply with an inclusion of your objective. For example, “that’s great Bill, as I too would like to learn more about your company to determine if there is an opportunity for us to do business together or not. Is it ok if we ask each other questions?

Do you mind if I take some notes?

Getting permission to ask questions, and to take notes, is also an important selling skill. It shows interest, and makes the prospect feel important.

ReputationProfessor.Com Complaints Turnaround By Ki Gray.

Is the worst still to come? That is the $789 billion dollar question. Or in the case of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the 2.5 trillion dollar question. Despite Congress getting ready to vote on the stimulus bill compromise, the Treasury Department getting back to work on the banking system and President Obama’s declarations that swift action will avert disaster, Americans seem short on hope and long on financial worries. Are bad economies like bad marriages–throwing money at them doesn’t necessarily solve the problem?

It is now largely believed that the recession began in the fall of 2007, although Central Texans didn’t begin to feel the financial squeeze until much later in 2008. In fact, Texas has even experienced job growth in the last year. But this doesn’t mean Austin is immune to the difficulties of a bad economy. The ripple effect felt across the country is making waves here with job cuts and budget tightening.

RealtyTrac announced this week that nationwide the number of foreclosures were down in January, falling 10 percent from December. However, the good news is often tempered with a dose of reality, as in this case the January foreclosure rate was actually 18 percent higher than a year ago. California, Florida, Arizona and Nevada are still leading the nation in foreclosure numbers, but states with previously stable housing markets like Oregon are racking up foreclosures, as well.

Will a stimulus package and a better bank bailout change things soon? The drop in foreclosures is an indication that government and big bank intervention can have a positive effect. According to the Associated Press, “Contributing to the monthly drop was a decision by government-controlled mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to suspend foreclosure sales during the winter holidays. Plus, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist brokered a deal in which lenders in that state agreed to a 45-day halt to new foreclosure petitions.”

The issue at hand is how much government intervention will help and how long will it take to turn the economy around. The current economic climate is often compared to the Great Depression, which started in America in 1929, but was felt worldwide into the 1940s. It wasn’t until after World War II that the economy began to change drastically. Obviously, no one wants another World War to turn the economy around.

Is the worst over? Most analysts seem to think things may not get better until sometime in 2010. As Sheila Bair, the chairwoman of the FDIC, wrote in Fortune, “We need to return to the culture of thrift that my mother and her generation learned the hard way through years of hardship and deprivation.” Hopefully it won’t be too many more years of hardship. That is certainly what the Obama administration is hoping with the implementation of the stimulus package.