Tuff Economy in the Gila Valley....

Things are getting alittle tuff around here. The housing boom is coming to an abrupt stop. Freeport McMoran (old Phelps Dodge) caused a lot of our sudden growth with the start of construction on the two new copper mines here in the valley. Now with the price of copper going from $4.67 to $1.23 per pound things have slowed down. Freeport "layed off" 405 workers in Morenci and another 54 at the Safford complex. The rumor is that after Thanksgiving they are going to completely close the mine in Miami and lay off another 1000 people in Morenci. The sad part about the lay offs in Morenci is that the town of Morenci is completely owned by Freeport....it is a true mining town. They own the land, homes, businesses, hospital....everything except the school (although they do own the land the school sits on). In every housing contract it states that if you lose your job at the mine you have to leave your company house within 30 days. So not only are people losing their jobs...they are also losing their homes. We may see many of them moving to the Gila Valley. The economy is going to get harder and harder no matter where you live. We just need to follow the counsel of our church leaders and stay out of debt, live within a budget, and use things untll they wear out. I feel that it is going to get much worse before it gets better. Let's all hang together and we will be fine.