Have you ever felt like escaping to your own desert island?

Jane Gaskin did exactly that, trading in the family home to begin a new life in the

tropics.

But she soon discovers that Paradise has its secrets.

I'm Alice Levine, and this is the price of Paradise,

the island dream that ends in kidnap, corruption, and murder.

Wish you were here.

Follow the price of Paradise Now, wherever you listen to podcasts.

This is John Batcheek, conversation with my good friend Gene Marks just back from on the road for weeks,

visiting associations, manufacturers, software, toolmakers, and construction.

He visited with retail construction, shopping malls,

building offices, and learned what's good about the business, especially in Florida and Texas,

and what's holding them back.

No surprise, the interest rates are at 23-year high.

Here, Gene explains, the Federal Reserve is holding them back. This is the

national organization, so these are retail construction companies from all over

the country. So yes, the ones that are from Florida and Texas

aren't reporting good news, but there are parts

of the country that we're reporting in at this meeting.

Their retail construction is flattening out

or even down commercial

construction right now is still having its it's challenges.

...