My employer has cut back on work hours for the entire year thus far. As a consequence, as I look ahead in my tax situation....my income will be down about 30% for the year. It is getting painful. Small business is getting killed. Is anybody beginning to see any bright spots in your local economy?
Location: On an Island in the west coast of New England
Posts: 13,133
Housing is up here and unemployment isn't rising. I just went to a Black friday sale at Gander Mt and there isn't any shortage of shoppers. I went at 0600 and the lots were full. Gander wasn't bad but Best Buy and Target were packed. The checkout line went the length of both stores. Got a great deal on a camera for my wife and some Gander junk for myself.
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Too busy with fishing to spend much time here.
Just got back from my annual haircut. It did not take long. A little here and there, she didnt have to dull her sissors on the top, as nothing manages to grow there any longer. Any rate, I dropped by Best-Buy to pickup some things for the kids, and it was a mad house. If anyone is tightening their belts, you would not find them there. Cars were lined up to load big screen tv's into them none stop. If the economy is poor, one could not judge that today. Time will tell come Febuary. See you in the woods.
We're in deep doo doo. The stimulus can't work, as you cannot spend your way out of bankruptcy. It's only a matter of time before people figure out we're headed for hyperinflation. Inflation is the printing of money. Higher prices are a symptom that will occur when the cash is lent out of the banks now hoarding it. As banks start to lend all this money printed out of thin air, prices will rise higher than the interest rate the fed is paying banks to keep in reserve, forcing them to lend, putting more money in the economy and making prices rises faster. If the fed raises interest rates to stem inflation by inducing savings and keeping banks from flooding the economy with cash, housing prices will fall further and put more banks under. If interest rates rise, the interest on the national debt will skyrocket. No matter how you slice it, we're in serious trouble.
We went through a wrenching experience passing a state budget for last year (making up a $48 Billion deficit) and paid state debts with iou's. The news yesterday said we're already another $26 BILLION in the red for this year. The politicians in this state are from Oz or some place. They're all Democrats and Schwartzenegger (we call him Schwartzenkennedy) is a Repub in name only. These folks never met a social welfare expenditure they didn't like. Illegal aliens have swamped the state and Mexico gets p--sed off when we try to rein in spending. Our property values have stabilized (nowhere near the old levels though) but we're still laying off cops and firefighters, and the building trades are starving .......... we're DOOMED! Don't emulate us!!
we're seeing a lot of options being scooped up, which generally precedes an up-tic in housing by about 6 months. on the other hand, a lot of state and local projects that have kept certain sectors busy during the last 9 months were funded by the stim. that money's gone, and with state and local government budgets' stretched thin, we're unlikely to see much in the way of new infrastructure projects any time soon. the first half od 2010 will be dismal.
We went through a wrenching experience passing a state budget for last year (making up a $48 Billion deficit) and paid state debts with iou's. The news yesterday said we're already another $26 BILLION in the red for this year. The politicians in this state are from Oz or some place. They're all Democrats and Schwartzenegger (we call him Schwartzenkennedy) is a Repub in name only. These folks never met a social welfare expenditure they didn't like. Illegal aliens have swamped the state and Mexico gets p--sed off when we try to rein in spending. Our property values have stabilized (nowhere near the old levels though) but we're still laying off cops and firefighters, and the building trades are starving .......... we're DOOMED! Don't emulate us!!
The problem we are facing right now is that the progressives who are running things in Washington right now consider everything you just described as being progress.
C. Davis
__________________ Am I greedy because I don't want to give you what is mine?
or
Are you greedy because you want to take what is not yours?
The problem we are facing right now is that the progressives who are running things in Washington right now consider everything you just described as being progress.
C. Davis
I agree, and they're not spending THEIR money. They're used to blank checks and they don't comprehend that we get tired of providing them. We have what they call "Proposition 13" passed in 1976 which limits property taxes to 2% of assessed value annually. Since its passage, the politicians have complained the sky is falling and they're trying to repeal it. Thank God for that or we would have sunk years ago. You know, the little secret is Communists called themselves "Progressives" early in the last century. Guess they're getting braver.
You know, the little secret is Communists called themselves "Progressives" early in the last century. Guess they're getting braver.
My fear is that we could be just one generation away from communism being preferred to progressivism. I think China is worried too. They know that if we scrap capitalism, we don't have a chance of ever paying our bills.
C. Davis
__________________ Am I greedy because I don't want to give you what is mine?
or
Are you greedy because you want to take what is not yours?
My fear is that we could be just one generation away from communism being preferred to progressivism.
Yeah man! It's all in place. You can't eat principles. Take a red blooded redneck, flag toating, God is great individual, and starve him. The plan is to make as many people as possible dependant on the government. How to you defend that against the folks just trying to feed their families? Trouble.
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All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.
The Economy
