Serious topic forum

[BDawk]

The economy ain't so hot at $50

[Mike D.]

I have a question for all:

Is the economy really that bad, or is it just being judged against the high water mark of the late 90's/year 2000?

[BDawk]

I'm not impressed with it.
The stock market hasn't done shit this year (generally because of flat corporate profits), unemployment is average-at best, and interest rates--after three years of insane drops --interest rates are only moving up slowly.
The one thing that people thought they could count on--housing--possibly is headed to the crapper. (just yesterday news came out that Las Vegas housing prices dropped significantly--possibly leading other markets to follow. At least that's what wall street thinks)
Oil, being at the price it is, is like an additional tax on everything we buy.

[GDavis]

It's like when President promised us "a chicken in every pot and two cars in every garage and two dogs in every bathtub"

[dvldog]

does anyone else question the profits of the late 90s/early 2000?  I mean, it seemed like when everyone smelled corruption, profits dropped.  Is it possible that those profits were bogus numbers?  I have no idea, which is why I ask.

[BDawk]

What hurt them is they started to see some profits.
With a PE of N/A nobody thinks anything about it. When the PE turns to 600--that looks like shit--people sell.

[BeefMaster]

ShitPaw, I think you have a point - part of the late 90's boom was a mirage caused by falsified profits.  Enron was one of the most important companies of that time period, and they never made anything but paper profits (even most of those were lies), which do jack squat for the economy.

[BDawk]

Most of the Tech Companies stocks went up despite the fact they had no profits. They really didn't falsify much if anything. The companies were bullshit, but not frauds.

[Mike D.]

does anyone else question the profits of the late 90s/early 2000?  I mean, it seemed like when everyone smelled corruption, profits dropped.  Is it possible that those profits were bogus numbers?  I have no idea, which is why I ask

This is why the economy died so quickly.  It was an economy born on smoke and mirrors, and speculation.  Here's what I've noticed.  I work for a start up tech company, and we are doing very well.  The seed money that was held onto so tightly in 2001-2003 seems to be ticking back up (nothing near late 90's volume, thank god).  I have noticed that there are jobs in a lot of places that are being lost/cut.  That's bad, but I always look to see where jobs are growing, too.  It seems to me that we are in the middle of an economy shift, almost like what happened in the 70's.  I think the economy gets reborn every 20 years or so, and there are new "booms" and "busts".  I deal with 50-100 people a day, and everyone I talk to seems to believe that the worst is over.  If you look at historic stats, it seems like we are in a "normal" mode right now.  I wonder what the next big boom will be?  I think biotech is primed.  It's been growing exponentially, but all our parents are getting old and will necessitate new forms of treatment, medicine, fake robot/monkey arms or whatever.  The stock market is like gambling.  For instance, the stock market was asskicking in the late 90's, but that was again due to speculation and smoke and mirrors.  I prefer a slow growth in the market because it shows that people are actually investigating the true value of a company and what they produce.  That said, I think it's in pretty decent shape and everyone just remembers the carefree days.  Just thinking out loud...

[dvldog]

i definitely am against those impulse buys... happy to see people benefit from them, but i think more people lose money that way.

[malnuboy]

I'm not to keen on economic matters, but one growing trend seems to be smaller companies getting bigger and becoming way tom capatalistic in attempts to garner a better bottom line. This seems to result in the workers taking hits being losing overtime in favor of "comp" time, and other loss of benefits/pay. The company may look better because its making more money, but this comes at the expense of the employees. I have seen this first hand with mym mothers work and it really upsets me.

[Flood]

I'm not to keen on economic matters, but one growing trend seems to be smaller companies getting bigger and becoming way tom capatalistic in attempts to garner a better bottom line. This seems to result in the workers taking hits being losing overtime in favor of "comp" time, and other loss of benefits/pay. The company may look better because its making more money, but this comes at the expense of the employees. I have seen this first hand with mym mothers work and it really upsets me.

it's all about making the stockholders happy...shit on the employees if you must.  It sucks.