In October '02, the WayWayBack Time Machine sees a Met Council quote of Natalie Haas Steffen, "I would call our task force the 'Dream Team.' [...] What this dream will ultimately become depends on us here in Ramsey and on the economy."
Have you ever had one of those nightmare dreams, where you wake up in a cold sweat, your liver hurting, the veins in your forehead throbbing, and think, "Where is my wallet, sombody took my wallet, my wallet's gone, I am left in a vast empty space with only townhomes, a market, a school in the distance in this desolate bleak open howling-wind landscape."
I don't think any on the Ramsey City Council have their nails done, but in the dream sequence, I or they could have. In that bleak open dream landscape, there was a nail place. And you could buy some insurance.
The hedge, the catch, the carefully placed caveat in Natalie's dream, "... ultimately ... depends ... on the economy." It is a Catch 22.
There's always a catch, and it's Catch 22.
Interest rates go down, interest rates go up, and borrowing costs move in sync. So it costs more to borrow as rates go up.
There are shortages, there are gluts, and that is yin-yang of "the economy," be it in a market for widgets, pork bellies, or ugly-looking town homes.