Welcome to 2025. May it be the most boring year ever.
Over the holidays, I taped a “New Hampshire Business” segment with WMUR veteran Fred Kocher and Business NH magazine editor Matt Mowry. It was time for Fred’s annual “crystal ball” episode, so we were prepared to talk about the year ahead.
The morning of the taping, I watched last year’s episode to make sure I wasn’t wearing the same tie again. I also wanted a refresher on what we talked about. Big surprise: homelessness, lack of childcare – the challenges that haunt us in 2025.
I was also reminded that I participated remotely via Zoom for the December 2023 episode: I was in quarantine with my second case of COVID-19, although I did not suffer any symptoms (unlike my wife).
This year marks the fifth anniversary of the coronavirus pandemic, a worldwide outbreak blamed for the deaths of more than 7 million people, including 1.2 million in the United States and about 3,000 in New Hampshire.
COVID-19 upended every aspect of our lives. It closed many businesses for months and raised unemployment in New Hampshire to nearly 17%. We immediately converted to Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Webex and Google Meet and dusted off Skype. Social distancing became our mantra. It seemed like every empty manufacturing plant started pumping out hand sanitizer.
We started working remotely from home and were regularly distracted by the sound of delivery trucks for Amazon, FedEx, and UPS racing up and down our streets, dropping off important goods like toilet paper and Lysol.
Fred, Matt and I didn’t have time to talk about the pandemic during the five-minute “New Hampshire’s Business” segment, a rapid-fire program where we try to pour a gallon of news into a small cup.
I’ve been on my mind since the USA 500, a business networking group I belong to, plans its annual ski day at Loon Mountain Resort. Five years ago this February, our group gathered in a private meeting room during which conversation swirled with chatter about a strange flu outbreak that was hitting nursing homes in the Pacific Northwest. It seemed so far away and hardly anything of local concern.
COVID-19 never went away. We’ve just learned to live with it. Businesses, including restaurants, retailers and health care providers, are still facing labor shortages. Businesses and consumers are still struggling with high prices that spiked during the pandemic and are only now beginning to stabilize.
What will be the unknown factors this year? Check out longtime columnist Brad Cook’s latest “Cook on Concord” column for a refresher on what President-elect Donald Trump has on his to-do list — each of which has the potential to have a major impact on the economy.
Issues we touched on during our televised conversation included how incoming Gov. Kelly Ayotte and the Legislature will address state revenue shortfalls as they create the next biennial state budget, the state’s ongoing battle with opioid addiction and homelessness, and business concerns about cyber security. On the positive side, we noted the growth of New Hampshire’s life sciences industry and the importance of the state’s healthcare industry.
My wish for “the most boring year ever” just means a year where we’re not blindsided by world events. With two major wars showing no signs of ending and acts of terror becoming common both abroad and in the United States, we know to prepare for some level of chaos.
When I finished the first draft of this column, the LA wildfires that have destroyed more than 12,000 structures and killed at least 24 people were not yet burning. Chaos, unfortunately, found California right away this year.
The challenges we face in New Hampshire are not easily solved, but they are achievable if we keep trying. As the giant sign inside the Life is Good t-shirt manufacturing center in Hudson reminds me, they are, like most everything else, “distinctive.”
Speaking of housing
NeighborWorks Southern New Hampshire has invited me to speak at its annual breakfast from 7:30 to 9 a.m. on March 27 at the Manchester Country Club in Bedford. (See nwsnh.org. for ticket information.)
So far, I have a title for my talk – “Make it Home: Housing – and lots of it – is the key to NH’s future.”
NeighborWorks Southern New Hampshire has more than 500 apartments in its rental portfolio. The nonprofit organization serves 81 communities and has housed more than 1,600 people.
If you have some housing news or ideas you’d like to share, please send them to mikecote@yankeepub.com.
