From the barter desk of Bob Meyer…07/08/2008

World’s Largest Mall Is EMPTY!!

A seven-million square-foot mall in China is an unbelievable financial flop. The South China Mall, located in the Pearl River Delta (China’s wealthiest region) opened in 2005 with space for 1,500 stores. Currently 12 are occupied—with a vacancy rate of 99.2%.

80-Year-Old Billionaire Says Today’s Economic Period Worst Of His Lifetime

Eli Broad, retired home builder in California, says this is worse than any recession we’ve had since World War II and he does not think the housing market will recover for years. He also sees a sharp rise in unemployment.

Broad contends that as home sales keep dropping, most of the equity people in the U.S. have built over the last twenty years melts away. As jobs disappear, defaults rise and the matter becomes worse.

Women Helping Women

Amy Swift, is Editor-In-Chief of Ladies Who Launch (www.ladieswholaunch.com), a national women’s organization which helps countless women across the country embark on their own careers and companies through incubator programs. Their national LIVE events and online resources have helped other women launch their own successful business.

Super-yachts Still Very Popular

The Luxury Institute and Camper & Nicholsons International—a yacht broker and charter company—found that new orders for yachts of longer than 130 feet are up 18% in 2008. There were 254 new orders for such yachts last year.

The report shows the astounding growth over the past decade for jumbo yachts. In 1997, there were just 241 yachts of 80-feet or more under construction around the world…last year 916 such boats were being built.

Interestingly, the biggest constraint to the industry’s growth isn’t the economy…it’s the staffing. The report says about 25,000 crew members are necessary for today’s super-yachts, but only about 15,000 currently work aboard yachts. Shortages of captains and engineers are especially acute.

The column “From the desk of Bob Meyer” is the first section of the Tuesday Barter Report. To read the entire barter report see…
TUE

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