Downturn bites in US financial hub

By Jamie Coomarasamy
BBC News, Charlotte, North Carolina

Times have grown tough in Charlotte, the US's second financial hub

When Wendy Laxton quit her job last summer, she expected to find work relatively easily.

A chief financial officer in Charlotte, North Carolina, she was living in a city whose thriving financial centre - the second biggest in the US - had, to some extent, been insulated from the national economic downturn.

But, six months later, she's still looking for work.

Three jobs have been dangled in front of her since the start of the year but, even if she's prepared to bite, employers aren't in the mood to reel her - or anyone else, for that matter - in with a concrete offer.

"All three of those jobs are out there, but the clients are waiting," she says.

"Nobody knows exactly what everybody's waiting on. There's a great deal of uncertainty. So everyone's just waiting a little bit longer."

Cold feet

One of Wendy's former bosses, Katie Tyler, is also playing a waiting game.

Businesswoman Katie Tyler wants to hear positive words from Mr Obama

She has been running a construction company - Tyler2 Construction - for more than 20 years and has a record number of contracts on her books.

The trouble is, the clients are getting cold feet; the contracts are being put on hold.

She is not paying herself a wage, at the moment, and may even have to give her staff an extended period of leave.

"Somebody's waiting for something to happen, but no-one knows what it is," she says.

Ms Tyler is an independent voter who decided to support Barack Obama in November's election and gave over office space to his presidential campaign.

But she is not happy with the new president's tone, as he warns of the dire consequences of not passing the $800bn-plus economic stimulus package.

"I wouldn't say I'm totally disillusioned but - yes - I feel he's already slipped in his first two, three weeks in office," she says.

"That's disheartening to me. I've already seen a change in him from the absolutely 'Yes, we can' to the far less positive statement."

'Asking too much'

But the enthusiasm hasn't waned among the customers at the No Grease barber shop.

Aaron Brand says the new president should be given some leeway

The African-American barber shop chain was a rallying point for the Obama campaign's successful "get out the vote" efforts in North Carolina.

As he waits for a haircut, customer Aaron Brand argues that the new president should be given some leeway.

"This thing can't be done overnight. So people expecting him to make drastic changes are asking too much of him... I can't see whether he's changed people's livelihoods, but he's changed people's perceptions.

"People actually think that voting is important now."

And there is a similar sense of optimism among health care workers, especially those who deal with the country's millions of people without health insurance.

Dr Mike Dulin is director of research for the Carolinas Medical Centre's Department of Family Medicine, working with under-privileged patients in eastern Charlotte.

He applauds the president for using the planned stimulus bill to invest in health care budgets and to computerise the country's health records.

"I think there's change at the top. They understand that planning out health care for the country can help people enjoy their lives, stay in work and not end up costing us more and more money," he says.

Sustainable recovery

Others disagree with the idea that the stimulus bill is the place for plugging the holes in states' health care budgets.

We need people to look back and say 'they invested in the right things with borrowed money' Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory

Charlotte's Republican mayor, Pat McCrory, says he is rooting for Mr Obama but is worried that his Recovery and Reinvestment Plan - as it is officially known - is sending the government into too many areas of public life.

"I don't want this to fail, but we've got to look for sustainable recovery," he says.

"Not just for the next election or the next quarter, but 10 years from now, we need people to look back and say 'they invested in the right things with borrowed money'."

Banker Chris Roberts is also worried about the long-term consequences of this sharp injection of public cash.

He is relieved to have kept his job after Wachovia Bank was bought by Wells Fargo at the end of last year, but is concerned that the market system may be losing out.

"I think that when capitalism falls short, government can step in - and that worries me.

"The president has to say: 'The capitalist system is alive and well. We don't need to nationalise. The system just needs propping up.'"

[Mr Obama] needs to be constantly telling us it's making a difference and pretty soon we're going to start believing it Businesswoman Katie Tyler

Opinion polls suggest the American public is still on Barack Obama's side, despite his bumpy first weeks in office.

Businesswoman Katie Tyler says the best form of economic stimulus would be for the president to recapture the "Yes, we can" spirit that got him elected.

"Some form of some bill is going to be signed soon," she says.

"Even if it's not perfect, he needs to say it's perfect. He needs to be constantly telling us it's making a difference and pretty soon we're going to start believing it.

"And when we start believing it, it's going to happen."