The Economy

shrpshtrjoe · Posted: Sun May 18, 2008 11:10 am Post subject: The Economy

Howdy. Todays Economy is horrible Sad

. It has effected me consideribly ( not all bad ) I was laid off in jan because of the decline in new construction I do HVAC but was hired at a company in the retro division for alot more money so it worked out. Even at my new job we are still slow because of the economy I only worked 22 hours last week, this week looks to be better Smile

. I don't have any Hunting trips planned for this year so the gas prices shouldn't effect my Hunting this year. I will hunt right around the house. How has the poor economy effected everybody here ? do ya think it will hurt your hunting this year ?. Just curious to see how my fellow HuntingNuts are being effected by these poor times. Hopfully evrybody is managing alright.
Joe

OntheLasGallinas · Posted: Sun May 18, 2008 11:51 am Post subject: Re: The Economy

Joe,

The Texas economy is still strong. Being a research scientist in the environmental field, as long as people are buying property, I stay busy. I've only had two or three slow weeks in the last 5 years. The unemployment rate is a little over 4 percent in most of the state, with some areas around 5. In college business classes, they teach you that 5 percent is a good unemployment number for a booming economy, unless you are one of the unemployed. Construction is still one of the major industries down here, in all areas. Home building is still going like gangbusters.

As far as hunting goes, I'll hunt here, or locally anyway. This is pretty much standard for me. Sometimes I go hunting with some of my local rancher friends, but never more than an hour from the house.

Joe, I wish you luck with your work. Grandpa always told me to not fret the hard times, it'll always get better one day.

Cary

shrpshtrjoe · Posted: Sun May 18, 2008 12:57 pm Post subject: Re: The Economy

Here in my area new construction has bottomed out I have never saw so many people in the trades effected this bad. I no alot of people with a lot of years under there belt in the trades looking for work. I have about 18 years doing HVAC and this is first time I have bin laid off. I was lucky the co I"m at now was hiring when I applied. I'm in a much better situition now than I was.
Joe

Bushmaster · Posted: Sun May 18, 2008 1:10 pm Post subject: Re: The Economy

Retired (I know...You are tired of hearing it). Gasoline, propane (home heating) and food costs are about all that really effects me. My place and vehicles are paid for so those three are the only ones that concern me. If need be I can hunt on my property, the neighbors or locally...It does really effect fixed incomes though, but I will eat.

Pumpkinslinger · Posted: Sun May 18, 2008 2:28 pm Post subject: Re: The Economy

I sometimes wonder about the construction business as an indication of the economy. Around here I see so many buildings going up without the businesses and population to support them. I wonder how often the building is based on need instead of “because we can”. How many little towns really need a “Super Wal-Mart” and 100 new homes in the middle of them?

I read an article recently by John Lott and he said that the basic economic numbers are the same, or better, than when Clinton was in office and the media was crowing that the economy was great! My firm belief is that the media controls the economy by altering our perceptions of how it is going. They tell you its bad and you start holding back on spending, making it “bad”. They tell you its good and you start spending, making it “good”.

I’ve been laid off twice in the last 16 years and I feel that both times it was due to short-sighted MBAs. One even told me that “Long term is three days.” The company I work for now, a packaging company doing printing, laminating, etc., has been a little slow and I think its for the same reason. I’ve even been told that we have to save by NOT buying the parts we need to keep the machines running! Obviously someone has cranio-rectal inversion!

shrpshtrjoe · Posted: Sun May 18, 2008 2:58 pm Post subject: Re: The Economy

Hey Bushy keep rubbing it In that your retired Razz

I'm happy for ya buddy enjoy it.
I think a big issue is fuel costs. Heating oil , gasoline , diesel fuel. Heating oil is insane it's about $4.00 a gallon. Between cutting my lawn ( 1/2 acre ) and I cut the lawn at my son's mothers house (3 1/2- 4 acres ) I spend $15 dollars a week in gas just for the tractor. I do have a Company truck witch is great that saves me alot a week. The high cost of diesel is driving up anything thats delivered by truck. If someone can do something about the fuel costs I think things would get better in a hurry.
Joe

OntheLasGallinas · Posted: Sun May 18, 2008 3:07 pm Post subject: Re: The Economy

Mike,

You described the economy in a nutshell better than any collage professor I ever had. I kept telling them that the new media and the opposing politicians on an election year had more to do with the downfall of the economy than any real world factor. They were mad at me all the time because I wouldn't fall for most of their BS.

Overbuilding a small town or a city for that matter is what broke the Savings and Loans in the 80s (being too lenient with loans, not requiring enough collateral). This is what brought down the John Connelly Empire-- building office buildings for a boom that didn't happen.

And yes, the numbers show the economy is better than the Clinton boom years. Explain that to the naysayer media. I don't understand how the drive-by-media and the socialist democrats can sleep at night, knowing that they have caused a consumer atmosphere of "no confidence," just for political gain.

You are also right about the short-sighted MBAs. These people are subject to the socialist slime preached by our liberal/socialist colleges. Empire building by these twits is not going to happen.

Saving money by not buying parts is the fastest way to shut an entire plant down. Income is produced with well oiled machinery and good people maintaining and running it. That's just about a stupid and saying "to save money, we won't use grease.

Gosh Bushy, you don't have to torture us so! We'll catch up with you in the next 10 to 40 years.

OntheLasGallinas · Posted: Sun May 18, 2008 3:13 pm Post subject: Re: The Economy

Joe,

I'm all for nationalizing the oilfields that we built and paid for in the Middle East. The next war is going to be over oil. We might as well get it over with, its going to happen anyway, weather we like it or not.

Cary

Handloader · Posted: Sun May 18, 2008 4:00 pm Post subject: Re: The Economy

Pumpkinslinger'is observations about the "perceptions" of economy are shared by me. I've been around enough to recognize the economic cycles. When things slow down, it is not that they are regressing, but, merely not increasing at the same rate. Still as the slower portion of the cycle concludes, the economy invigorates and goes on to new highs.

If we look at the CPI, established in 1967, and factor today's prices we find, mostly, stablility or a lower of costs. There are notable exceptions, however, guns certainly cost less for example. If we factor our income, most of us will have realized gains overall.

The price of gas is of no concern to me. I am more interested in availability and consider our American pump price as a bargain when compared to other industrial nations. But, then, I ride a bicycle to work and have one motorcycle that delivers over 55mpg and another, a road bike, that hovers in the low 40s. My F150 gets 22mpg on the road.

Those of us that recall the gas crisis and warnings of the early 70s have made choices in the interim between big and heavy vehicles or smaller and lighter ones. Our national CAFE has increased and will continue to do so. Vehicles are available that get very high gas mileage and we vote with our dollars to support them or not.

We have choices and we have consequences.

hunterjoe21 · Posted: Sun May 18, 2008 6:54 pm Post subject: Re: The Economy

The current economy blows...

Again, mostly as a result of panic created by the liberal media, in an effort to have their socialist candidates win the White House.

The company I work for has decided to entertain RFP's (Request For Proposal) for the services we provide. In the name of "expense management" we now have to justify our own existence.

Just the RFP process will cost the company more than any potential savings over the term of any upcoming contract. And people wonder why it costs so much to operate a business in this country.....

hunterjoe21 · Posted: Sun May 18, 2008 7:10 pm Post subject: Re: The Economy

OntheLasGallinas wrote:

Overbuilding a small town or a city for that matter is what broke the Savings and Loans in the 80s (being too lenient with loans, not requiring enough collateral).

Banks were lenient with loans in the REFI boom that exploded about 2001. This came after a period when "NO ONE" could get a mortgage. The liberals decided that banks were descriminating against certain "minorities". So the banks started to loan money liberally, and at a higher (profit) interest rate. Now the banks are being blamed for high foreclosure rates, 'cause they shoulda known better than to loan money to people who cant afford the payments. And the Dems want to impose a moratorium (sp) on bank foreclosures.

It's another case of "damned if you do, and damned if you dont".......

whittling · Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 2:08 am Post subject: Re: The Economy

I know we are in a recession but not a depression. The American people are resileant .We'll suffer but we'll adjust to it in a couple months .Its the bunny huggers and plant lovers that are killing us . Flag

FALPhil · Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 4:48 am Post subject: Re: The Economy

whittling, I know we are not in a recession. We have certain sectors in the economy that are struggling while trying to adjust to economic shifts, but we are nowhere near a recession.

The construction trades are hit pretty hard right now because of the mortgage loan debacle. However, the home improvement business is going gangbusters, because that's how people enhance their domiciles when they are afraid to trade up.

Skyrocketing fuel costs play a part, which has causes the automotive sector to slow down while driving the costs of most everything that has to be transported up, but in general, demand for most goods has remained inelastic - definitely not an indicator of recession.

My company has hired 73 new employees since the first of the year. So far, we are on track to double our size in 2008. Personally, I think that a recession will hit, but it will occur 6 - 12 months after the election. When the Democrats control both houses of Congress and the White House, they will re-implement all the socialist policies that have failed over and over, and the economy will tank. That's when the recession will begin. Depending how far they go with it, the recovery may take as long as 12 to 16 years. Hopefully it will take less than 8.

Bushmaster · Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 6:22 am Post subject: Re: The Economy

FALPhil...You must be a pessimists...The democraps have not won ...And with a little hope, prayer and those thinking that they are getting even with the govenment by voting for Ron Paul change their feable minds and vote (yuck) John McCain we will win...Otherwise we will be in "deep kimchi"...

FALPhil · Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 7:41 am Post subject: Re: The Economy

Bushy, I am not a pessimist, but a realist.

Not only that, when you vote for someone whose principles are not your own so that a party who let you down can win, you are still a loser.

Vox Day says it better than I can:

Quote::

Voters are like women. They swoon for those who seduce them, they chase after those who don't need them, and they despise those who attempt to give them everything they want. This should come as no surprise, since the majority of American voters are women. True electoral appeal does not concern an ability to precisely match one's positions to the electorate's fickle policy preferences, since it changes on a regular basis, it is rather an ability to lead the electorate into a visceral acceptance of one's political vision. This is why pragmatism is doomed to failure, because the absence of principle means that the pragmatic politician can never lead, only follow. But, as the massive unpopularity of both Bush the Younger's wars and his presidency shows, the political vision must also be a coherent one; principle involves more than blindly ignoring the clear wishes of the American people.

Barack Obama's candidacy, like Bill Clinton's before him, demonstrates the power of political seduction. But this power is dependent upon illusion, and it dissipates as quickly as the smoke from a morning-after cigarette. So, while the Republican Party will suffer a horrific beating in November, a defeat it richly merits, it need not sentence itself to another 40 years in the political wilderness. It will do so, however, if those party leaders and opinion makers who originally provided the poison are allowed to supply the antidote.

If the Republican Party is not going to go the way of the Whig, it must reject the call to continue on its current path to becoming the nation's second socialist party and instead dedicate itself to becoming the party of individual liberty, small and limited constitutional government, sound money and peaceful national sovereignty that many once believed it to be.

I am kinda like Ann Coulter - if I am going to get a Democrat by voting for McCain, why not vote for a real Democrat, give them the rope they need to hang themselves, and hope some party emerges that values the principles that made and will continue to make the USA a great country.

It's going to be a long 4 years no matter which of the 2 major parties wins the presidency, and I am preparing. From my point of view, a "lesser" evil is still evil. If we, as a group, would get behind the one candidate that is solidly pro-gun, and advocates lower taxes, less government, and more freedom, we would have a shot at averting most of the crap that is goin to happen to us in the next 4 years. But, unfortunately, most of us have been educated in government schools and we cannot see past the two party myth.

And I am NOT talking about Ron Paul.