Recession

When Donovan and Laura Bachtell put their luxury three-bedroom town home up for sale in 2008, they had no idea of the bargain-basement fever the recession was causing. “We just thought it would sell. I don't think we thought about how long it might take,” Donovan Bachtell said last week. The property, in the Arborgate development north of Hagerstown, didn't sell until this spring, but that isn't what angers Bachtell. “Honestly, the worst was the first offer from (one Realtor)

Few people have been unscathed by the gnarly fingers of the recession. The hardest hit have been mangled by lost jobs, homes and savings. Other have just been grazed by pay freezes amid inflation, reduced or eliminated employer retirement contributions, frozen credit lines or altered insurance coverage. Perhaps one of the most subtle symptoms of the recession is what I think of as the incredible shrinking product. In an effort of survive skyrocketing production costs, manufacturers have been faced with a choice: raise product prices or reduce package sizes.

A study by the National Park Service and Michigan State University has shown that the country's national parks are a valuable asset during the current recession, drawing thousands of visitors and propping up local economies. Visitors to National Park Service sites last year helped support more than 200,000 jobs and spent $11.8 billion in gift shops and nearby businesses such as hotels, restaurants and gas stations, according to the study. Visitors staying outside of the parks in motels, hotels, cabins and bed-and-breakfasts accounted for 55 percent of the total spending.

The United States is no longer in a recession, but recovery has been slow. So slow, in fact, an increase of 2.5 percent in gross domestic product, a common measure of economic health, has been called a "growth spurt. " If the economy is going to build momentum, the housing market, which has stalled, will have to participate, economist Anirban Basu said Wednesday night during his annual Washington County Economic Summit presentation. Close to 200 people attended the summit at Fountain Head Country Club near Hagerstown.

Q. Most of what I read about SCORE has to do with small business startups. We are a small, five-employee company in business a little more than two years. Can SCORE help us weather this current recession? A. Absolutely. Call us at 301-739-2015 to register for a free counseling session with one of our small-business counselors. Help us understand the nature of the assistance you seek for the company. Our volunteer counselors are available to evaluate needs and provide guidance to assist with your specific business needs.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The financial health of Social Security and Medicare, the government's two biggest benefit programs, worsened in the past year because of the severe recession. Trustees of the two programs said Tuesday that Social Security will start paying out more in benefits than it collects in taxes in 2016, one year sooner than projected last year, and the giant trust fund will be depleted by 2037, four years sooner. The trustees said Medicare was in even worse shape.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress Tuesday that the economy should pull out of a recession and start growing again later this year. But in prepared testimony to Congress' Joint Economic Committee, Bernanke warned that even after a recovery gets under way, economic activity is likely to be subpar. That means businesses will stay cautious about hiring, driving up the nation's unemployment rate and causing "further sizable job losses" in the coming months, he said.

HAGERSTOWN -- Despite the recession, hundreds of people flocked to Hagerstown Community College's Athletic, Recreation and Community Center Saturday to attend the 24th annual Home Show. Debi Turpin, executive director of the Home Builders Association of Washington County, said 186 vendors paid about $500 per booth to participate. "We have had an amazing turnout today," Turpin said. "It's grown to become an event. " Participating vendors sold everything from showers to swing sets.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government says consumers increased spending for a second straight month in February even though their incomes slipped due to continuing massive layoffs. The Commerce Department reported Friday that consumer spending edged up 0.2 percent in February, in line with expectations. That follows a huge 1 percent jump in January that was even better than the 0.6 percent rise originally reported. But the report says incomes fell by 0.2 percent in February, the fourth drop in the past five months, declines that reflected the sizable number of job layoffs that have been occurring because of the recession.

As the longtime president of a Hagerstown furniture manufacturing company, David C. Beachley has seen a lot of curves and sharp edges in the numbers that define his business. The worst of the extremes in the number of people he employs has come fairly recently. “We went from 65 to 14 (workers) pretty quick during the recession,” Beachley said late last month. “It was pretty rough there for a while.” But now, because of big changes in the kinds of furniture his employees were willing to learn to make, Beachley Furniture Co. Inc. has not only survived the recession, but is hiring again.

As the longtime president of a Hagerstown furniture manufacturing company, David C. Beachley has seen a lot of curves and sharp edges in the numbers that define his business. The worst of the extremes in the number of people he employs has come fairly recently. “We went from 65 to 14 (workers) pretty quick during the recession,” Beachley said late last month. “It was pretty rough there for a while.” But now, because of big changes in the kinds of furniture his employees were willing to learn to make, Beachley Furniture Co. Inc. has not only survived the recession, but is hiring again.

A circuit judge said Wednesday he needed more information before sentencing a woman who pleaded no contest in September 2012 to child neglect resulting in the death of her 2-month-old son, Jaxon. Twenty-third Judicial Circuit Judge Gray Silver III said he heard some things in Wednesday's sentencing hearing for Jessica Skupnick, 24, that prompted him to recess the proceeding until April 9 so the court could obtain the unspecified information. Wednesday's hearing lasted more than two hours and included testimony by Skupnick, who faces a maximum of three to 15 years in prison, and her paternal grandmother.

In the mid-1700s, British soldiers on the way to battle might have marched right past the property on the old road crossing South Mountain. A century later, just after a battle nearby, Civil War armies did rush past on the same road, barely 12 paces away from the front door of the property's new log farmhouse. Today, the new battle threatening the old log house, barn and outbuildings at 20725 Reno Monument Road is the nation's ongoing economic struggle. With its owner in bankruptcy, the property has deteriorated.

When Donovan and Laura Bachtell put their luxury three-bedroom town home up for sale in 2008, they had no idea of the bargain-basement fever the recession was causing. “We just thought it would sell. I don't think we thought about how long it might take,” Donovan Bachtell said last week. The property, in the Arborgate development north of Hagerstown, didn't sell until this spring, but that isn't what angers Bachtell. “Honestly, the worst was the first offer from (one Realtor)

It's dinnertime, but the big white-bricked restaurant building with green canopies outside and polished wood furnishings inside is silent, dark and empty. The Hagerstown restaurant, long open as Burhans Station under one ownership and more recently as Vito's under another, has been closed for months - seemingly another sign of dreams lost as the nation has struggled through economic recession. But at this former restaurant and at several other places in Washington County and beyond, there is rebirth and new hope among people who are seeing the has-been locations as fresh opportunities for business.

When John Walla opened Black Eyed Susan restaurant near Hagerstown in January 2008, he had “not a clue” that the nation's economy had just sunk into recession. “Hindsight's 20/20,” Walla said last week. “I might have went a different direction” had he realized what was happening, he said. But Walla's restaurant has survived and, this past April, with the economy still shaky, the Hagerstown native opened a second - in the storefront where a sports restaurant and pub closed in 2009.

In the summer of 2007, house prices in the United States began falling, ending a 15-year-long climb. Prices fell 5 percent by the end of the year and 15 percent by the summer of 2010. That decline continues today; this spring, house prices fell to 20 percent below their 2007 peak. Millions of Americans who once believed “there's no better investment than owning your home” now owe more on their mortgages than what their houses are worth. The collapse was a calamity for homeowners.

Washington County's economy is showing new strength, with household and business spending on the rise for nearly a year, according to a study byTheHerald-Mail. But whether the momentum will continue amid rising economic uncertainties across the globe is a big question, a regional economist said last week. “One might look at the (local spending) data and conclude we have turned the corner. That doesn't mean we might not do another U-turn” back into the recession, said Anirban Basu, chairman and chief executive officer of Sage Policy Group Inc., a Baltimore economic and policy consulting firm.

The United States is no longer in a recession, but recovery has been slow. So slow, in fact, an increase of 2.5 percent in gross domestic product, a common measure of economic health, has been called a "growth spurt. " If the economy is going to build momentum, the housing market, which has stalled, will have to participate, economist Anirban Basu said Wednesday night during his annual Washington County Economic Summit presentation. Close to 200 people attended the summit at Fountain Head Country Club near Hagerstown.

Letterkenny Army Depot sustained Franklin County's economy when other top manufacturers were suffering the effects of the recession, Franklin County Area Development Corp. President L. Michael Ross said Thursday. "Our major guys really struggled in 2009 — the end of 2008 and all of 2009," Ross said at FCADC's annual membership meeting, held over breakfast at The Lighthouse Restaurant on U.S. 11. Franklin County's unemployment rate peaked at 9.1 percent, its highest level since 1984, Ross told a crowd of nearly 100. He said that would've been different if not for Letterkenny Army Depot in Chambersburg.