Some trends are obvious enough and visible to all investors. Others are more subtle but are just as potent, and these often slip "under the radar."

Case in point: Water and energy use is trending lower, and a good example is the City of New York. Water consumption has been dropping on per capita (or per person) basis, basically, for 25 years.

The recession has led to belt-tightening all around, including tax increases and spending cuts to balance state and local budgets.

Further, the City of New York, under the leadership of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, has done a pretty good job closing its budget deficit, while maintaining essential public services.

This post is part of our feature on Money Winners of 2008. See them all.

In Michael Bloomberg, you're dealing not just with a person, but with a brand.

Bloomberg, of course, in 1982 founded what is now Bloomberg LLP, the firm that runs Bloomberg News, a financial news service that competes with Reuters, Dow Jones, and News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) to provide breaking news, features, data, and analytics, among other products, to financial players worldwide.

Bloomberg ingeniously developed a product that essentially aggregated, summarized, and presented financial market data at a time when financial institutions -- particularly bond market participants -- were ripe for such a product, and along with editor and former Wall Street Journal reporter Matt Winkler, built a financial news empire known for its speed, accuracy, and comprehensive coverage of the markets.

Bloomberg's reward for the above, in monetary terms? About $20 billion in estimated net worth, good for eighth place on Forbes magazine's 400 Richest Americans list.

Want a classic example of how the real estate slump is affecting not only the construction industry and home owners, but also states and municipalities, as well?

Consider the plight of the nation's largest city, the City of New York.

Wall Street's mortgage losses have ballooned to such a degree that some firms may pay small or no taxes for years, Bloomberg News reported. That's right: no taxes for years.

Rising tax revenues, no more

For much of the current decade, indeed for much of the 1990s as well, the city could count on rising tax revenue from Wall Street firms -- based on increased securities industry business -- as a starting point for the city's budget. Not now: the city, which derives about 20% of its revenue from Wall Street businesses, is projecting a decline in revenue from Wall Street firms -- a contraction that is expected to widen the this year's $1.5 budget deficit in fiscal 2009 to $2.3 billion next year, fiscal 2010, and then to $5.96 billion in fiscal 2011 budget deficit, Bloomberg News reported. The city's budget for fiscal 2009 is $59.1 billion.

The Wall Street recession has put the social service goals of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on hold, for the most part. Bloomberg has already asked city department and agency heads to implement a 6.4% spending cut; he will likely ask department heads to identify other cost savings of up to 3%, should revenues continue to come in below projections.

There's bad news and good news on the Broadway strike front.

First the bad news: Unless there's a sudden change in the negotiating stance by the League of American Theatres and Producers or the striking Local 1 of International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, the strike is not likely to be resolved for at least another two weeks, possibly three weeks, industry analysts estimate, and The Associated Press reported. (The strike has shut down more than 24 Broadway plays and musicals since November 10.)

The reason? Two weeks is the length of time it would probably take to exhaust both the owners'/producers' patience regarding losses and the unions' $4.1 million contingency fund. Of course, each strike/job action is unique, but if historical precedent is any indicator, labor and management begin to get serious about resolving a strike when each begins to incur unacceptable losses, Reuters reported.

Now the good news: Strike talks resumed Sunday, and with any luck the neon lights may be back on "On Broadway" in time for the pivotal Holiday/New Year's period. A settlement by that is pivotal because, historically, Broadway's biggest revenue week is December 26 - Jan. 6 -- the period from Christmas through just after New Year's Day, a vacation period when tourists from college students to senior citizens flock to the city. If the strike wipes out Christmas/New Year's week revenue, every Broadway show will suffer large losses, and some shows, including some with inadequate advance sales, may be forced to end their runs.