Poor timing for San Bernardino County investment trip to Asia?

A story in today's Los Angeles Times on an economic report to be released today paints a bleak picture of California's economy and describes diminished hope of help coming from overseas.

As Wall Street continues to struggle, this may not bode well for the delegation of San Bernardino County officials who are headed overseas in November to drum up deals with investors. The county is spending $52,000 on the trip to China, Japan and South Korea.

According to the story in the Times, "Other sectors that might have compensated for declines in government spending and construction also appear troubled, said economist Sohn. Tourism and exports, for instance, will probably be weakened as foreign consumers face their own economic challenges.

'We're beginning to see a marked slowdown in Asia,' he noted, with Japan's economy "already in recession," China's once-torrid growth slowing to about 9% a year and South Korea's annual growth shrinking to 3.5% or lower."

Those percentages seem dismal at least considering the high hopes of the delegation to find investors willing to infuse San Bernardino County's economy with money.

An economist in the article also noted that forecast of the downturn predicts that it will last 18- 24 months.

Maybe the county should plan on delaying its trip by a year or two.

Note: The report does not appear to be available online, but if it is posted, we'll link to it.