This week in 1991, Bryan Adams topped the charts with a squeaky clean love song called "Everything I Do (I Do It for You).” At first, it’s hard to find fault with the song, and believe me, I’ve tried. It’s so pure of heart and sweetness it’s a Hallmark Card Mr. Rogers could love. And it’s Bryan Adams—you know, the guy who sang “Summer of ’69”, the most classic of quintessential summer songs.
But there’s a problem with this innocent ballad. A big problem. This song, this bit of saccharine pop sugar was the signature song on the soundtrack to Kevin Costner’s absurdly bad movie Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. And for that reason, “Everything I Do,” is guilty by association. While Adams created a ballad so aggressively nice, its association with the film makes it positively offensive. Costner butchers his English accent so badly in one scene in the movie, he gives up a moment later and slips back in Yellowstone-Standard English, sounding like a lost cowboy who wandered into a Renaissance Fair.
Adams’ power ballad infected every wedding, graduation, and grocery store checkout line for at least a decade. It was even covered by Brandy in 1998. Today it still plays in the background of elevators and shopping centers across the nation. But when I hear the song, all I see is John Dutton in tights trying to convince Morgan Freeman he’s straight outta Nottingham.
This month's economic indicators are like that—dressed up in stretchy pants with no discernable accent. Take for example gross sales, which crashed from $1.063 billion last month to $590 million this month, a devastating 23% year-over-year decline. As we noted last month, the drop likely reflects people trying to make large purchases ahead of the Trump tariff schedule. But no matter the reason, it’s the kind of drop that would make Maid Marian tighten her chastity belt.
Tourism is crushing it with airport passengers soaring to 82,541 (up 20.41%). And hotel occupancy was roughly unchanged from the previous month. Employment also continued its steady climb with non-farm jobs reaching 77,000 (up 1.72%). And yet, average weekly wages dropped to $997.26. This might just be a math problem (more jobs at the same salary brings the average down), but it could also be because seasonal workers simply make less. Either way, it’s a little confusing—sort of like when Costner told everyone how he hunted for magic mushrooms on the set of…you guessed it, Robin Hood. Prince of Thieves.
Speaking of confusing performances, the real estate market is experiencing its own medieval drama and it’s hard to make any sense of it. Days-on-market improved to just 34 days, but active listings were up 52%. Additionally, the median list price in 57701 jumped to $377,450 with new housing permits plummeting to just 7. Building valuation fell to $29 million, suggesting contractors have developed the same trust issues audiences had watching Costner attempt physical comedy.
President Trump's tariff saga continues to lurk in the background like Kevin Costner in Sherwood Forest: loud, out of place, and somehow in charge anyway. Markets have largely shrugged the tariff threats off as meaningless, but we’re still monitoring the situation. Meanwhile, inflation held steady at 2.4% regionally and unemployment ticked up slightly to 1.9%.
What does it all mean? Well if you believe Amazon Prime purchases are the signal and not the noise, we’re in more trouble than Kevin Costner’s dialect coach. Then again, people said the same thing about Costner's career after Robin Hood, and he bounced back just fine. Rapid City will too.
Stay safe and God-speed,
Tom
