Is the economy improving?

Discussion in 'Business & Economics' started by darksidZz, Jan 5, 2012.

  1. darksidZz Valued Senior Member

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    Your personal experiences in the currrent economy?
     
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  3. Jeeves Valued Senior Member

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    Not good. In a tiny home-based business, operating costs steadily rising; personal maintenance costs steadily rising; income steadily falling. I figure two years, max, before we fold.
     
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  5. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    What's yours? :shrug:
     
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  7. darksidZz Valued Senior Member

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    Will write more at home tto hard to do on phone
     
  8. scheherazade Northern Horse Whisperer Valued Senior Member

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    The economy in the Yukon is largely based on federal government transfer money, tourism and mining. Mining exploration has been up and the government remains steady. For a population of under 40,000 (whole territory) we have more government employees than Dodd's has liver pills. Federal, Territorial, Municipal and First Nations levels of governance, about 1 employee for every 5 people.

    The private business economy is feeling the pinch and I observe that a number of retail businesses have closed in the past year. Seniors and others on a fixed income have seen fuel prices rise about 30% in the last few years but their incomes have not kept pace. I work in retail grocery and I observe food prices also rising.

    One visible sign of austerity this past season: Far fewer displays of Christmas lights by individuals and the municipality. The mild winter to date has helped people with their fuel costs but resulted in fewer hours of work for those who haul/deliver the fuel and the auto repair business is likewise pretty slow. Fewer jobs listed in the local paper and now we are into the season when retail cuts hours for it's part-time staff.

    There is talk of some mines opening soon but these jobs are often based away from home and so are not the first choice for those with families.
     
  9. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    I've been working in the Washington DC area for almost ten years, precisely because it has the strongest regional economy in the country. Even during the Great Depression, when the national unemployment rate was 25%, it was only 10% here. Men migrated here just to open up shoe shine stands, because it was the only place where people could afford to pay somebody else to shine their shoes.

    I was an IT consultant, but then the bottom dropped out of the traveling consultant market after 9/11/2001 (the attack on the World Trade Center, which raised the annualized death toll from terrorism to the same level as peanut allergies, i.e., 1/20 of the number of people killed by drunk drivers) because with the bottleneck of the new security procedures it became impractical to fly home for short weekend visits. The only place I could find a job was here, and ten years later that hasn't changed.

    Unemployment is lower here than in most of the rest of the country, the housing market is stronger, and in general it's still a place where people come to find work.

    That may change now that the federal government finally has to face the reality that they can't continue to increase their budget out of proportion to the rest of the economy by borrowing from China year after year after year. It already looks like they're going to make significant cuts in the military budget, and that will have a dramatic impact on the local economy, since thousands of local people work for firms that subsist on military contracts.

    I work for a contracting firm but fortunately our project is for the civilian side of the government so we probably won't suffer, at least in the near future. But I expect things to get worse for a lot of other people. I'll probably have some friends in trouble and I'll have to try to help them.

    If they don't reduce the federal budget then all they will do is put the problem off into the future, which will make it much worse when it finally happens. Since we don't have any children, the "rational" thing for Mrs. Fraggle and me to do is hope that they put off the day of reckoning until after we're dead. Somehow we find it impossible to think that way; as responsible elders we feel that we have a duty to try to make the world better for the people who will live on after us.

    What we don't understand is that people who actually do have children don't seem to feel that way at all. They want comfort and prosperity for themselves now, and to hell with the kids' future after they're gone.
     
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  10. darksidZz Valued Senior Member

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    Interesting though I'd hoped for more replies than this

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    We'll have to see what happens

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  11. scheherazade Northern Horse Whisperer Valued Senior Member

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    Perhaps you might share what your own observations of the economy are? I expect that perspectives may vary depending on where people live, what age they are and what skill sets they have etc.
     
  12. kx000 Valued Senior Member

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    We need a complete world wide economic reform based on the labor man is capable of doing per day per capita.
     
  13. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    So where are your thoughts as you were going to explain? :shrug:
     
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  14. darksidZz Valued Senior Member

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    I know why you want my thoughts, to tear me down

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    no way jose!
     
  15. hardalee Registered Senior Member

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    South Florida seems to be picking up. Lower unemployment each month, construction starting up again.

    Still not good. I would not come running down here.
     
  16. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    Not at all. I just wanted to understand what you thought about the way things are and how you see them affecting you.
     
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  17. joepistole Deacon Blues Valued Senior Member

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    Well things are improving and have improved dramatically since Obama and his fellow Democrats were sworn into office. One, we are no longer loosing 800k jobs every month. And we have been adding jobs, private sector jobs consistently month after month to the tune of 100 - 200k since 2010, the year after President Obama and the Democrats passed stimulus and completed the bank and auto industry bailouts.

    And the economy has gone from shrinking at a 9 percent annualized rate as it was when President Obama and the Democratic congress were sworn in to growing at a consistent annualized growth rate of about 2 percent.

    So despite the best efforts of the Republican Party to kill the economic recovery (e.g. causing an intentional default), things are much better today than they were when President Obama and his fellow Democrats were sworn into office. And most importantly, things are getting much better.

    Now there are still clouds on the horizon. The biggest being Europe. They did not follow our model in response the financial crisis of 2008 and as a result may well cause another crisis in 2012 or beyond. They did not recapitalize their banks and they did not pursue economic growth policies. They did what Republicans have been pushing here in the states. It didn't work.
     
    Last edited: Jan 8, 2012
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  18. Ivan Seeking Registered Senior Member

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    I own a small business - engineering and consulting work. For me things have immproved quite a bit. In fact, 2011 was a pretty good year and the best that I've had since 2007. But I would equate my world to a mine field littered with gold coins. There are many more coins and far fewer mines than before, and things are definitely heading in the right direction, but disaster could still be just a step away.

    Metaphors aside, I have reason to be hopeful based on information that I get from my suppliers. Though I work in the industrial sector, many suppliers also work with commerial and residential contractors, so I tend to get feedback from a broad base. Many sales people seem to be surprisingly happy these days. And several projects have been delivered late by suppliers due to an excessive workload. Manpower shortages are becoming an issue.
     
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  19. superstring01 Moderator

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    I was recently fired . . . and promptly hired by an IT recruiting firm. This organization hasn't hired a person in seven years. They are now hiring four people.

    Why are they suddenly hiring? Because the economy--especially IT--in the USA is expanding and expanding rapidly.

    I believe that 8% [unemployment] will be the new norm in the USA and that we US citizens will have to bust our asses in the next 20 years to keep the jobs we have, but one place that is experiencing massive growth: IT. It's where the jobs are.

    If it weren't for the "improving economy" I would not have a job right now. It ain't perfect, but it's moving in the right direction.

    ~String
     
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  20. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    Just make a federal law mandating anything sold in America must be made in America, that way America would easily have its economy back on top in a few years.

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  21. Ivan Seeking Registered Senior Member

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    Actually, we wouldn't have much of anything. Even assuming that we would want to enact isolationist policies, it would take decades to rebuild the manufactoring sector to such a point that we could end trade.
     
  22. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    I was being fecious when I said that, I know its not possible but putting a import duty on items isn't. China is doing that now to the US and others and not adjusting its currency as it should to help matters out.
     
  23. Ivan Seeking Registered Senior Member

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    That is another matter altogether.

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    The Chinese have an interesting problem: We're too big to fail. And they can only play hardball to a point because we're their biggest customer.
     

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