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<DIV><FONT face="Arial Narrow">We hope...</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=rrg@unlv.nevada.edu href="mailto:rrg@unlv.nevada.edu">Rob & Helen
Goodale</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=pianotech@ptg.org
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, October 08, 2008 9:56
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Pianos and the Economy</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>When the economy goes south certain selected industries
actually thrive. <BR>For example movie ticket sales often soar upwards.
That is because movie <BR>entertainment is generally looked upon as an
"affordable luxury", and <BR>provides an escape for the problems going on in
the real world. One of the <BR>biggest growth periods in the motion
picture industry was during the Great <BR>Depression of the 1930s.<BR><BR>Many
home based hobbies also tend to do well. Economists call this the
<BR>"hibernation effect" because people take on less expensive activities at
<BR>home in their off time rather then more expensive recreational activities.
<BR>Examples of hibernation avtivites include cooking/baking, sewing, computer
<BR>related tasks including gaming, low cost projects to work on in the
garage, <BR>and physical fitness. Music is also a popular pastime when
the economy goes <BR>bad. The horn that's been in the closet since the
high school band days <BR>comes out, music stores experience a surge in sales
for replacement guitar <BR>strings, and.... people decide maybe it's time to
get that ol' piano tuned <BR>up again so it's playable. This isn't
always the case and doesn't <BR>necessarily occur everywhere, but historically
speaking a surge in music <BR>interest is probably forthcoming. It isn't
likely to spawn much growth in <BR>piano sales since that's a major expense
often requiring financing which is <BR>one of the things most are avoiding,
but tech services are likely to see a <BR>surge to get existing pianos up to
par.<BR><BR>Rob Goodale, RPT<BR>Las Vegas, NV
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