End of federal stimulus money leaves Maryland with tough choices.

Job creation in Maryland is a recurring theme in this year’s elections.

The stimulus money has gone into the economy and kept us out of a depression

But while business owners like Vary support the measure, economist Morris Segall said that community banks are balking at the idea.

While the economy is recovering from the worst recession in 70 years, my firm, SPG Trend Advisors, is forecasting dramatic changes in the U.S. economy going forward. These developments will entail equally dramatic changes in the structure and practices of business in the future.

"If the consumer is spending at a subpar rate, then the economy grows at a subpar rate," said Morris Segall of SPG Trend Advisors, a Baltimore research and consulting firm. "U.S. consumption going forward is going to be at a lower rate than we've seen it over the last 10 to 15 years."

"When temp agencies start hiring those fill-in workers, demand is picking up but people aren't ready to put them on full-time, and they're generally a precursor to something better down the road, in terms of hiring," said economist Morris Segall.

“"The financial tsunami that saw Lehman Brothers, AIG, Merrill Lynch and Washington Mutual fail panicked a lot of people, according to SPG Trend Advisor Morris Segall, but he said national and local growth is expected in the third and forth quarters thanks to the government stimulus."

“Financial literacy is becoming increasingly required for people today,” said Morris Segall, president of Baltimore’s SPG Trend Advisors, an economic analysis and consulting firm.

The new credit-card regulations are vital reform to an industry that is psychologically damaging to consumer confidence.

"You have people sitting on cash," Segall said. "The economy is sitting on empty until we get back to spending. But the consumer, he's absolutely petrified by these credit-card companies if he defaults or makes a late payment."

"Unemployment is still very much a problem; Still a depressant to consumer spending. But I think people are going to take advantage of the beautiful weather and hit the road," said Morris Segall, SPG Trend Advisors.

When Morris Segall began to notice credit card companies hiking interest rates arbitrarily last year, he contacted the members of Maryland’s congressional delegation to let them know something needed to change.

"I should think college graduates should be looking for salaries of no more than 50-60% of what was seen four years before the recession took hold,"

Financial analyst Morris Segall says this is similar to a recently failed investment scheme.

"When that money starts to dry up because of a recession, down markets and investors' fear, that's when they start to implode because you can't keep the cycle going," said Segall.

Morris Segall, president of SPG Trend Advisors, an economic-research firm in Baltimore, said deals like this were "totally anathema to what Congress has in mind."

"Feeding from the public trough for the benefit of corporate America is wrong," he added. "It's just plain wrong."

"I suspect that print leaders are seeing substantial job cutbacks and profitability losses—which is consistent with what we're hearing throughout the economy," says Morris Segall, a financial adviser and president of consultancy SPG Trend Advisors."

"Even if the White House does an 11th hour rescue, economist Morris Segall believes a lot of jobs are going to go.

"Any kind of a bailout package is going to require restructuring of this industry, which means it's going to have to be downsized. So we're going to lose a a consequential amount of auto workers, workers that are tied to automobile parts suppliers and dealerships," said Segall.

Morris Segall of SPG Trend Advisors said the recession can't end until consumers are "financially sound and creditworthy." "Pumping dollars into banks, credit card companies, insurance companies and auto companies will not solve the recession until the consumer starts spending," he said.

“Unlike the 1930s, President Obama does not have an economy that can be pulled out of recession by massive public works and welfare programs,” said Morris Segall, president of Baltimore-based SPG Trend Advisors. “The workforce is too skilled and older, and the federal deficits from the banking-system bailout are too large.”

To Morris Segall, president of SPG Trend Advisors, an economic-research firm in Baltimore, the share plunge was an ominous sign that "the life insurance companies, which I thought were going to be the last man standing, are getting nailed."

The Fed cut a key short-term interest rate to 1.5 percent from 2 percent, a move designed to stimulate the economy by encouraging lending and borrowing. The European Central Bank and central banks from Britain and Switzerland to Canada and China followed suit.

"They are literally pulling out all the stops," said Morris Segall, president of SPG Trend Advisors, a Baltimore consulting firm.

I recently attended a meeting of credit counseling professionals from around the country and liked the advice of economist Morris Segall, president of SPG Trend Advisors.

Segall did not have a lot of good news about our current economy, but he did have some excellent advice on how we all might consider weathering this difficult time for our personal finances. Here are his recommendations for what Americans can do to get through the bad times and to best ready themselves for a recovery that eventually will come.