Can we call it a recession NOW???

[weressl]

So I guess I should just ask.

You don't think we are heading for rough times ahead?

Last week I spent doing the work of an errand boy as they had nothing else. We recently lost a 6 year customer because they got someone to come in for less then what we charged 6 years ago.

Welcome to the freemarket economy. You can join the 10%+ unemployment in the 'advanced' EU communities, where thew social net will keep you afloat.

 

[weressl]

During the Great Depression there was 25% unemployment. That means 75% were employed I have a feeling even if there was a repeat of those days and i lost my business I would be in the 75%. Therefore I fear nothing. Remember some of the greatest feats in human engineering and building were done in those days. I think we are in a good trade.

In Afganisthan the unemployment rate is 50% and that is just par for the course.

 

[brian john]

The real story is HOW is the economy affecting you. Myself it has been a bit slow with hills and valleys. But all in all we are still going strong.

I have always said if we could just smooth out the work flow, from balls to the wall to dead stop I could live much more relaxed life.

 

[electricmanscott]

Welcome to the freemarket economy. You can join the 10%+ unemployment in the 'advanced' EU communities, where thew social net will keep you afloat.

So in this thread you are anti socialism and in another you are pro? Pick a side and stick with it.

 

[weressl]

So in this thread you are anti socialism and in another you are pro? Pick a side and stick with it.

Please point out where is that alleged pro-statement?!

 

[dbuckley]

Why can't the US avoid major debt?

Quoted from a posting on The Green Party of New Zealand blog, to which I've added the occasional explanation and link:

As Michael Hudson explains in his brilliant and too-little-studied work Super Imperialism, the perverse genius of the US global dollar hegemony was the realization, in the months after August 1971 [when Nixon decoupled gold from dollars, ending the Bretton Woods system], that US power under a fiat dollar system was directly tied to the creation of dollar debt. The US debt and the trade deficit were not the ?problem?, they realized. They were the ?solution?.

The US could print endless quantities of dollars to pay for foreign imports of Toyotas, Hondas, BMWs or other goods in a system in which the trading partners of the United States, holding paper dollars for their exports, feared a dollar collapse enough to continue to support the dollar by buying US Treasury bonds and bills. In fact in the 30 years since abandoning gold exchange for paper dollars, the US dollars in reserve have risen by a whopping 2,500%, and the amount grows at double-digit rates today.

This system continued into the 1980s and 1990s unchallenged . US policy was one of crisis management coupled with skillful and coordinated projection of US military power. Japan in the 1980s, fearful of antagonizing its US nuclear-umbrella provider, bought endless volumes of US Treasury debt even though it lost a king?s ransom in the process. It was a political, not an investment, decision?

?So today, at least for the present, there are no signs of Japanese, EU or other dollar holders engaging in dollar-asset liquidation. Even China, unhappy as it is with Washington?s bully politics, seems reluctant to rouse the American dragon to fury.

You already know that USA manufacturing is no longer the powerhouse of the US and world economies as it was in the mid 20th century, and you know that the USA is no longer the dominant producer of oil, yet the USA continues to have the highest standard of living in the world. How is this feat achieved? Your standard of living is paid for by the rest of the world. A truly great trick.

 

[realolman]

You arguing two completely different situations which have nothing to do with each other whatsoever.

1 Do they need the work done or not
Not for me to worry about so long as i get paid
2 Is it done properly
That's what concerns me
What does one have to do with the other in this case? :-?

I was trying to make an analogy between the mortgage broker industry and an electrical trade scenario. One has nothing at all to do with the other. That's the thing about analogies.:smile:

I think your customers should be able to trust you to give them expert advice on their electrical situation and to follow guidelines to make sure the job is done correctly .


For the analogy, I think a home buyer, especially an inexperienced or uneducated one, should be able to trust the mortgager to guide them to a mortgage that is suitable for their needs, and one that they will be able to afford. There are guidlines and ratios for this stuff. Mostly they go out the window when everyone works on commission.

Should the buyer be responsible for himself? Sure. Does that give lenders the right to be unscrupulous? I don't think it does.

You could cheat your clients, the mortgager could cheat his. We could all cheat each other. I don't think because we could, makes it OK to do so.

Ostensibly, that is why the building industry has the permit/ licensing/ inspection thing. To keep unscrupulous people from inflicting their unscrupulousness on others.

I know there are laws in the lending industry. I won't pretend to know any of them. Apparently there are not enough.

I think when a bank depends on the mortgages they make to make their profit they are much more careful about who and how much they lend. But when each level of this thing just keeps packaging them up for commission, and selling them to the next level, they're not nearly as meticulous. I'd say they were downright deceitful.

Now we have all this low risk, high grade real estate investment that is worth... ?

One more point, with so many economic "experts" just on this board alone, how can we be so deep into the mess we are in? :wink:

short answer = You don't do what I tell you.:wink:

longer answer = I think this board probably contains a much higher percentage of gray matter than the general public. I think from the nature of the job, the folks here are probably more honest and sensible than many other areas. We actually don't mind working for a living. Some of us even take pride in it.

 

[UtahElectric]

My building department laid off 33% of its staff two weeks ago. I am comfortable calling it a reccession.

How does your building department losing 33% of their jobs mean it's a recession? Maybe people are just done building there? There's just isn't that much land left in the city; it's mature now. The rest of the valley is still booming in terms of jobs and wages. Beyond all that, it's not a recession until GDP contracts for two consecutive quarters.

During the boom a couple of years ago, your building department was well known for being unbearably inefficient and cocky. Getting anything done took weeks and weeks and you were usually met with an extreme attitude by anybody you came in contact with.

It still isn't much better today. Of course the difference now is that the boom is over.

Nobody is shedding any tears for your building department shedding jobs here. They treated people like garbage during the boom because they could. Karma's tough like that.