The state of our economy...

[punkncat]

I was watching the news tonight where there was a story about the "new" poverty level. The jist of the story was that many of the people whom are needing help now are actually working class people that simply can no longer afford to live. Not the traditional jobless and homeless sterotype as it were.
With gas prices as high as they are, the cost of living has increased a great deal faster than it has traditionally. The price of everything has increased in relation to the higher price of getting it to market. Housing forclosures are at an all time high. The unemployment rate is extremely high, and worse that that is the loss of "skilled" jobs in the market. Not enough that many people aren't working, but that overqualified job seekers are flooding the market and being forced to accept jobs for much less than they have made. Not only causing them economic problems, but pushing the less skilled further down the ladder.

I am no economist, and by no means have I studied the fine intricacies that make the market what it is, but it would take a blind and deaf person not to see how bad things are getting.
Well over half the people I know are either out of work or fearing it. All the folks I know, including myself, involved with the construction trades are out of work. And not only residential, but the lack of budget is starting to affect many of my friends in the commercial service industries. Ford just closed its plant within the last year. Delta is facing major layoffs or worse. With the recent drought in this area we have seen the loss of many jobs and small business' within the landscaping field. The domino effect from this is rippling up and through everything around here.

Is it like this everywhere?

[kosmo]

Ive been unemployed for the last 8 months. I cant find anywhere within stumbling distance of my couch that will hire me. Stupid ecomony.

[MANN]

I think that this has been a long time coming.

Here are some of the problems.

1 houses should not shoot up in value the way they did. a 100000 dollar house should be just that. 20 thousand dollars for the acre of property, and 80 thousand dollars worth of materials and labor. Alot of the "house flippers" / mortgage companies / stupid people some how got a 200k house out of 100k worth of work. People bought into it, and are left holding a house that is not worth what they owe.

2 gas. everyone complains about what gas cost. IMO if you dont want to pay the price dont drive, or dont drive as hard as you once did. I see people complain about gas cost, and then pull off away from a red light in their F350 like they were competing in a 1/4 mi race. I am not sure about others, but my tank only holds 15 gallons. if gas increases 50c a gal that is only a 7.5 dollar increase. Either work an extra hour every week, or dont eat at Mcdonalds this thursday.

3 poverty.....pshhh. Most of the people crying poverty have a 100 dollar a month cell phone bill, a 75 dollar a month cable bill, and a 75 dollar a month home phone/internet bill. If you are in poverty you dont need this stuff. Most people here dont know what poverty is. I lived without all 4 the first 2 years of collage. It is possible happily without them. get rabbit ears, and use the local library's computer.

4 jobs. Most people are unwilling to work their way up in life. They believe that just because they have this 4 yr degree/ 8yrs experience that they should automatically get out of college making 60, 80, or 100k a year. This is great in theory, and what the teachers will tell you. It is also a lie. If your company goes under then find another.

I could go on and on about this stuff, but what it boils down to is laziness. People need to quit complaining, and demanding answers from the gov. If someone states that they dont have an opportunity it is because they have not made an opportunity for themselves yet.

Just remember only ~3 % of millionaires got their wealth from inheritance. The others worked for it. If they can do it so can you.

[Lenny]

Mann, you are my hero.

[bornl33t]

They did a study on "poor" people a year or so ago. I don't remember the details so I won't list numbers. What they found is that house holds that pull money from the government for necessities almost all had cable TV, a vast majority owned a car less then 1 year old and some even owned their home outright.
Things have changed in the last year. I live in an area where diversity in the job market is keeping unemployment low..yet. The construction industry is suffering but it's only one side of the story. I honestly think the media is way over hyping the slow down. But people are not willing to make the changes necessary to stay afloat.

What has me scratching my head is how are the suit of all these companies making big gains in their salaries even though their company is "hurting", calling the feds for money or laying off employees?

I like capitalism, but it's seriously broke right now.

[Swampy]

Truckers:
Gas is expensive, but the cost for diesel is through the roof. I don't want to sound like I'm complaining but the fact that people that operate their own semi to make a living are getting hit hard. The truck alone costs more than most peoples house costs. They got to keep their cost's low enough so they can get the jobs, a kind of lowballing bid to stay competitive. Most truckers that I know that operate their own rig usually have to cut charging for fuel in their prices, because of the low balling bidders. Not to put the blame on just the government but the companys that manufacture trucks haven't helped at all with the fuel economy that these big rigs get. Most owners are not taking jobs cause their cost to operate is to high and its cheaper to just park the truck.

Green Industry:
We don't pay for our fuel, or contracts do. We do get a lot of complaining about our fluctuating fuel surcharge at 10% 15% 20%, even threaten to lose a contract because we surcharged for fuel. The obvious reasons why we charge for fuel is operating equipment and getting the equipment out to a job site. But there are little things for example if you have to use the restroom, you just can't drop your pants and pinch a loaf on the sidewalk. So the point is our costs rise as well, until something is done to lower our costs, then we can lower our prices, fuel being the big issue.

Another thing we are losing money to is building contractors. Some of them already owning dumptrucks, 1 tons, trailers, skid steers, etc... are trying to turn their construction business over to a landscaping business. This is flooding our industry with unqualified personal, and shotty business practice. Just cause you have a truck and a trailer, doesn't mean you can just go out buy a mower to make you a landscaper. I'm all for people entering small business but at least make the effort to gain knowledge of the industry before making the investment.

One more thing, this apply's to home owners. Big box stores like Walmart, Home Depot, and Lowes sell plant stock for reasonably cheaper then most nursery's, garden centers, and growers. Those big box stores usually buy there plant stock from growers in the southern region of the US, because growers in the south have longer growing seasons then we in the northern states. The problem with that is that now if your transporting micro organisms, disease, and invasive insects up here making the problem bigger. Even the dirt has a factor in it. In the south its a nice slity loam soil, here in the north is a sandy clay soil. It just won't live here for more then a season. Plus the personal running those "BIG CLEARANCE SALE" is no more then a kid working there for the summer before he goes off to college, so when you ask a question he won't know the answer if it can survive a winter or not. I've been on service calls before about how people buy a tree from home depot for $$$ just to tell them that it won't grow here because its in the wrong temperature zone. Now versus a local nursery/garden center/grower that knows what they are doing, they are qualified, and work with plant genetics to hybridize or create cultivars can give you plants that will survive. Basically you won't be paying twice to create a landscape. Lied's was a big nursery/installation/maintenance company up here that got hit pretty hard (I'm thinking a combination of bad business and bad economy). But they had to sell their tree farm, they closed sales to the general public other than annual flowers in spring, now their nursery is going up for sale next year.

Sorry to rant a little but what it all boils down to is money vs. cost. We have to charge so much because we do have a high operating cost, contractors are basically destroying our bids and not factoring their costs together so they can just get the bid, people that are being cheap and not supporting local business. Thats whats hurting the Green Industry.

What I can suggest to home owners that are in a pinch instead of installing new landscape material such as Sod, Trees, and Shrubs. Look at renovating it instead and using what you have, overseeding your lawn, hire a professional landscape contractor for tree/lawn fertilization/and landscape construction. I always tell my costumers "Your landscape is added value to you home/business. Wouldn't you like to protect your investment?" Also think a little, if you buy a tree that you know that will get old and tall don't plant it next to your house or garage, no matter what species it is there is always and I mean always a storm or a wind that will take it down.

[Pacifist_Farmer]

MY uninformed opinions...

There is nothing wrong with Capitalism, it is a system just like everything else. And just like every system that exists it fluctuates, for every up period there will be a corresponding down period. For every dollar made some one is losing a dollar, that of course neglects the input of time and labor.

The next couple years are going to hit some people very very hard. others won't even notice it. One problem is the fact that several generations of Americans have never seen or experienced what a depression/recession really is. It's time to re-prioritize life, and what your spending your HARD earned money on.

Swampy reminded me of something:

Buy local, it creates jobs, and puts money back in the pockets of those likely to spend it where you work. And avoid big box stores, and support businesses that don't pay CEO's 400+x what their lowest wage full timers make.

[Hilltop Customs]

"news".....you wont have to watch the news to know when real problems with the economy start to happen....

[Lohman446]

You mean financing an economy by individual borrowing beyond our net worth isn't sustainable? Whoever would have thought that....

[MoeMag]

How about a low tech economy draining "war"... that doenst have anything to do with it.

[going_home]

This is a market correction that I hope the Feds stay out of and let it finish happening.
Caused by congress getting involved telling lenders that everyone must be treated equally.
In other words they made them throw out the free market lending rules that were in place IE you dont lend money to people that cant pay it back, and made them lend money to people they knew would end up losing the homes. All people arent equal financially and shouldnt be treated equally. I certainly wouldnt lend me money if I was a lender, I've been a half step away from unemployment for a year now. Building industry slowdown is killing me.

But its the Feds that caused it and I hope they stay the heck out of it.
The whole income tax rebate is a joke. Wheres the money to pay it back going to come from ?
Yep you guessed it, from you and I.
What they should have done to stimulate the economy is cut taxes more, not add the the national debt. Cutting taxes increases federal revenue every time its tried. And that my friend is written down in history.
Kennedy, Reagan, and to a smaller degree Bush.

The FairTax should be implemented.
Jobs would come back from overseas faster than a B1.

/end rant

[gimp]

....
2 gas. everyone complains about what gas cost. IMO if you dont want to pay the price dont drive, or dont drive as hard as you once did. I see people complain about gas cost, and then pull off away from a red light in their F350 like they were competing in a 1/4 mi race. I am not sure about others, but my tank only holds 15 gallons. if gas increases 50c a gal that is only a 7.5 dollar increase. Either work an extra hour every week, or dont eat at Mcdonalds this thursday.

3 poverty.....pshhh. Most of the people crying poverty have a 100 dollar a month cell phone bill, a 75 dollar a month cable bill, and a 75 dollar a month home phone/internet bill. If you are in poverty you dont need this stuff. Most people here dont know what poverty is. I lived without all 4 the first 2 years of collage. It is possible happily without them. get rabbit ears, and use the local library's computer.

You said everything I wanted to say. People don't know how to live within their means. If people live paycheck to paycheck because they need all the junk you mentioned, then I have no sympathy at all.

[maxama10]

As for the unemployment: perhaps instead of going to college to major in some obscure profession not likely to find work after(liberal art majors anyone?), students should go for a degree that is in demand or promises to be in demand.

Push towards more science and math that can provide for our economy and failing national infrastructure.


Hollywood isn't real.


just the thoughts of a 17 year old...

-Max

[MANN]

just the thoughts of a 17 year old...

-Max

you are wise beyond your years.

(coming from a 24yr old)

[kosmo]

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