ARE THE TIMES A-CHANGING?

Since the election results? Can it happen that quickly?

Suddenly retail is improving. Last week when we were attending a wedding near St. Louis, we could hardly get through the masses of people at the mall. A mall that hasn't been that busy for ages. Sidebar. We went to Dillards to find some Rams apparel. I was looking for two Sam Bradford jerseys. I asked one of the clerks if he had any Rams jerseys. "A few," was his response. When I got there, sure enough he had two Bradford jerseys, size XL for me and XXL for our son. How cool is that?

Back home, the AZ paper reports real estate sales once per week. For the most expensive transactions. Keep in mind that there are houses on the market for as much as $16 million. But for some time, most reporting topped out at $1.6 mil or so. Not so today. Several sold for nearly twice that price. Nice, as our daughter would say.

Since we don't produce much in our outsourced economy anymore, and since our cars aren't up to the ones made in other countries, our economy is driven by construction, so I'm really glad to see the housing market making gains. I've also noticed many more workers in our neighborhood re-modeling or fixing up. My brother-in-law added that over the weekend in Mesa, it was hard to find a parking spot at Home Depot.

So, just maybe things are looking up. I know one moving company or two made a profit helping some scoundrels pack up and get out of DC.