I am in NW USA, just below the home office of SPCR. It is a agricultural based economy so it never really booms and seldom busts. Some small businesses are failing and I fear there will be more after the holidays. Credit is very hard to acquire except for those with a perfect credit history. All of the businesses are offering sales, but I think they have marked things down as low as possible. The newspaper (which has asked its employees to take some unpaid days off) always has news about this business and that business laying off workers. One sector of the economy here that is booming is gun sales, particularly handguns. And I guess another home canning supplies.
So in short, it is an unending flow of bad news. The US government gives some indication that they think it is serious as they are throwing money hundreds of billions of dollars (which they are borrowing) at a time. And apparently with not enough oversight at times.
I don't want to be a "scrooge" during the holidays, but I see a fundamental shift in the world.
So how are things in your part of the world?
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
My country didn't start WWI (that was very close to you) or WWII (also kinda close to you) so I don't see your point. If you want to speculate on where a WW might start perhaps that would be India vs. Pakistan or Iran vs. Israel. I hope none of this comes to pass. I only point out that the world is undergoing some changes the like of which perhaps have not been seen in sixty or seventy years. And things are very likely to become worse before they become better.Matija wrote:We probably have 10 years at most before your country starts the third world war and before 99.9% of the world population dies.
Happy holidays!
USA is bankrupt. Your debt is so huge that it cannot realistically ever be paid back; you are owned by China and Japan. Soon you'll have to pull all of your troops away to keep the country safe from civil war. When you do that, conflicts will erupt all around the world. You'll elect another low-IQ president after Obama, and he'll launch nukes when China demands what's theirs. The end. 
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xan_user
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im sure the US treasury is drawing up a design of our own as i type...nutball wrote:The debt is in dollars. The US has paper and printing presses, all that is necessary to pay off that debt if it wishes to take that option.Matija wrote:USA is bankrupt. Your debt is so huge that it cannot realistically ever be paid back; you are owned by China and Japan.
Zimbabwe unveils 10 billion dollar note
http://www.africasia.com/services/news/ ... izup67.php
Good Lord. Another blow in about the most depressing night of news and discussion in a long time.
Tonight I read that charitable foundations that had their money invested in Bernard Madoff's scam are closing.
I hope that this will make people realize that the poor should not be dependent on the rich for what little they get, and that it should be government (meaning, the common agreement) funding and organization that takes care of these things.
Tonight I read that charitable foundations that had their money invested in Bernard Madoff's scam are closing.
I hope that this will make people realize that the poor should not be dependent on the rich for what little they get, and that it should be government (meaning, the common agreement) funding and organization that takes care of these things.
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aristide1
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Well my home is in a small town an hour or so outside a major city. It has become a bedroom community, with many commuters taking the car or train to the big city or outskirts to work. There was a housing bubble, with ludicrous home values, spiking overnight. Now that the bubble is gone homes have returned to values that they would have had if the bubble had not ever happened. The problem is those that bought at the top. One new neighbor owes much more than his home is currently worth. He'll be stuck their a long time. Pity, he's an arse of severe magnitude.
Where I work is 3 hours away in part of the state that has been depressed and ignored for decades. It really hasn't seen any changes. It never went up, so it can't crash. How can you go down where you are at the bottom? In a lot of ways the people there see themselves as nobodies. I ask where is everybody, and they say everybody has moved away. All industry, manufacturing of all kinds, is all gone, and many people with it. Two large companies have IT and service centers in the area, because they pay people 40% less money than big city wages. Home prices are really low, but taxes are not correspondingly low, the money for services must come from somewhere. Since most people are very poor here they scream at any RE tax increases. The result is a very high sales tax rate, higher than the big city.
I buy many goods here because I know much sales tax goes to pay for Medicaid, and when you have or had family receive assistance to pay their medical bills then you realize that such services are very important. I also declare my internet purchases and pay sales tax on them as well, since the ability and opportunity to skirt the tax doesn't make it right, but tell that to a generation convinced that artists make music and it should all be free. I know it's a losing battle, and I'm sure many of those people who think they there are being clever will pay dearly for it one day. That will be after my time, if I am lucky.
Where I work is 3 hours away in part of the state that has been depressed and ignored for decades. It really hasn't seen any changes. It never went up, so it can't crash. How can you go down where you are at the bottom? In a lot of ways the people there see themselves as nobodies. I ask where is everybody, and they say everybody has moved away. All industry, manufacturing of all kinds, is all gone, and many people with it. Two large companies have IT and service centers in the area, because they pay people 40% less money than big city wages. Home prices are really low, but taxes are not correspondingly low, the money for services must come from somewhere. Since most people are very poor here they scream at any RE tax increases. The result is a very high sales tax rate, higher than the big city.
I buy many goods here because I know much sales tax goes to pay for Medicaid, and when you have or had family receive assistance to pay their medical bills then you realize that such services are very important. I also declare my internet purchases and pay sales tax on them as well, since the ability and opportunity to skirt the tax doesn't make it right, but tell that to a generation convinced that artists make music and it should all be free. I know it's a losing battle, and I'm sure many of those people who think they there are being clever will pay dearly for it one day. That will be after my time, if I am lucky.
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aristide1
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Hey I can't wait for 2009 when I'll be able to buy one of those billion dollar notes on eBay for about 30 cents.xan_user wrote:
Zimbabwe unveils 10 billion dollar note
http://www.africasia.com/services/news/ ... izup67.php
That will probably be before the middle of january, at this rate (a factor of 100 in two weeks).aristide1 wrote:Hey I can't wait for 2009 when I'll be able to buy one of those billion dollar notes on eBay for about 30 cents.xan_user wrote:
Zimbabwe unveils 10 billion dollar note
http://www.africasia.com/services/news/ ... izup67.php
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NeilBlanchard
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- Location: Maynard, MA, Eaarth
- Contact:
Pretty decent. I bought a new winter jacket yesterday, to replace the one I've been wearing for the last ~10 years. No sign of real winter yet, and hopefully it will wait until the middle of next month, so I can buy new boots.It would be best if folks answered the original question. How are things going for you in your area?
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N7SC
- Posts: 179
- Joined: Fri Jul 20, 2007 7:22 pm
- Location: Sunny Florida, where dead people vote 3 times in a county they never even lived in!
I live in North Central Florida, just southwest of Gainesville (univ. of fl.) and nw of Ocala (aka "Oldcala" or "Slowcala," crawling with retirees). My family's ties are to Gainesville, and UF.
Due to several factors: the drop in real estate values, huge backlog of homes for sale, previous governor's administration cutting of state taxes for very wealthy people and their corporations, etc., state income is very very much down. Thus state funding for UF is now being reduced for the 2nd year in a row. This is the 4th cut in UF's (and the state's) budget because it is cut at the beginning of the fiscal year, and adjusted, downward lately, in the middle too. Florida is constitutionally forbidden from defecit spending, so the budget must be balanced every year, and with revenues down this means severe budget cuts every 6 months. So . . .
UF is about to undergo its second round of layoffs, staff and professors. Departments are being consolidated, number of classes being taught is being cut. Florida, the state, already has a big problem with the so-called "brain drain" because, prior to budget cuts, our pay for professors was lousy to start with. We could not attract top notch professors. Now, the best ones we have are leaving for greener pastures. Many non-professors are leaving the Gainesville area too, and the rest of the state as well. In fact several moving companies are reporting that, for the first time ever, they are moving more people out of Florida than they are moving in.
We have a very old tax/revenue system that is based on the real estate boom of the early 20th century development of the state. The constitutionally mandated revenue and taxation commission that meets every 20 years and has power beyond that of the legislature to put new proposals on the ballots just met, and, sadly, like everything else in the last election cycle, they tried to put measures on the ballot that supported partisan ideaology rather than actually doing something for our state. For example, one measure they tried to put on the ballot was a thinly veiled attempt to allow state, or public, tax money to be used to fund sending kids to private, religious, schools via vouchers. It did not address revenue or taxation at all. That one either failed on election day or was kicked off the ballot by the state supreme court. Very little passed, and nothing has changed. Florida still has no income tax, a huge and irrational number of exemptions for our state sales tax, a requirement to balance the budget every year, and a century old dependence on documentary stamp taxes and recording fees (which, with the real estate market dead, are simply not flowing into state coffers.).
There are proposals to increase our very low $0.34 per pack tax on cigarettes to $1.34, which, it was thought would bring in an extra $1 billion per year. But, the economy here is so bad that the newest figrures project only about $700 million from that move. To put that in perspective, the mid term state budget shortfall that has to be addressed in January is about $2.3 billion. The state economists are projecting a shortfall in the next, 2009-2010, fiscal year (runs from July 1 to June 30), budget of $5 billion. Out of a budget in the area of $60 to $66 billion. Before the economy failed, the state budget was around $71 to $75 billion/year.
On a more individual scale, our power company, Progress Energy, has just gained approval to increase the cost of the first 1000 KWh by about 27%. Part of that cost is direct pay back to them for their expenditures on a new nuclear plant. They put out nothing, we all pay them for it, they own it at no risk. That is right, if they decide not to build it, or it never goes, for whatever reason, they haven't spent a dime. Under Florida law, they get to recoup every cent they spend on land aquisition, site development, design/engineering, equipment purchase, etc. from us, the customers. And we don't own a damn thing. If, for example, they buy a $100 million turbine, it gets delivered, the plant does NOT get built, and they sell off the turbine . . . we don't get a cent back.
On the up side, the weather here is pretty mild, so we don't need to use much energy to heat in the winter. And the mid-year "true-up" of their fuel adjustment charges will occur before the worst part of the summer cooling period, so if natural gas (used for back up/high demand generation) and coal (used, with nuclear, for basic power generation) stay cheap, then they will be forced to drop fuel adjustment surcharges in August '09.
One neighbor is the personnel (I hate the term "Human Resources") manager at Monterrey Boats here, and he has had to lay off huge numbers of employees due to drop in the recreational boat market. He has had to take a 15% reduction in pay himself, just to keep a job. Another neighbor is a tile-setter, does new construction and remodelling. He is said to be very good at what he does. He has had to travel to the Miami area to get work, as he has been out of a job for 6 months.
Pretty bleak here, and our governor, smilin' Charlie Crist, has done virtually nothing but grin and dispense positive platitudes about how the sun always rises in Florida first. Meanwhile, with state money so tight the new, republican speaker of the state house of reps. has just gotten in major hot water over steering $6 million to a project to build a hangar to house the private jet of a major republican fund raiser. There is a cover up of Watergate proportions beginning to unravel in which they tried to hide the building in the budget as classroom space (in a hangar?) for a local community college.
Hell, this is getting me depressed, so that is enough of how things are here in sunny Florida. At least for now.
Due to several factors: the drop in real estate values, huge backlog of homes for sale, previous governor's administration cutting of state taxes for very wealthy people and their corporations, etc., state income is very very much down. Thus state funding for UF is now being reduced for the 2nd year in a row. This is the 4th cut in UF's (and the state's) budget because it is cut at the beginning of the fiscal year, and adjusted, downward lately, in the middle too. Florida is constitutionally forbidden from defecit spending, so the budget must be balanced every year, and with revenues down this means severe budget cuts every 6 months. So . . .
UF is about to undergo its second round of layoffs, staff and professors. Departments are being consolidated, number of classes being taught is being cut. Florida, the state, already has a big problem with the so-called "brain drain" because, prior to budget cuts, our pay for professors was lousy to start with. We could not attract top notch professors. Now, the best ones we have are leaving for greener pastures. Many non-professors are leaving the Gainesville area too, and the rest of the state as well. In fact several moving companies are reporting that, for the first time ever, they are moving more people out of Florida than they are moving in.
We have a very old tax/revenue system that is based on the real estate boom of the early 20th century development of the state. The constitutionally mandated revenue and taxation commission that meets every 20 years and has power beyond that of the legislature to put new proposals on the ballots just met, and, sadly, like everything else in the last election cycle, they tried to put measures on the ballot that supported partisan ideaology rather than actually doing something for our state. For example, one measure they tried to put on the ballot was a thinly veiled attempt to allow state, or public, tax money to be used to fund sending kids to private, religious, schools via vouchers. It did not address revenue or taxation at all. That one either failed on election day or was kicked off the ballot by the state supreme court. Very little passed, and nothing has changed. Florida still has no income tax, a huge and irrational number of exemptions for our state sales tax, a requirement to balance the budget every year, and a century old dependence on documentary stamp taxes and recording fees (which, with the real estate market dead, are simply not flowing into state coffers.).
There are proposals to increase our very low $0.34 per pack tax on cigarettes to $1.34, which, it was thought would bring in an extra $1 billion per year. But, the economy here is so bad that the newest figrures project only about $700 million from that move. To put that in perspective, the mid term state budget shortfall that has to be addressed in January is about $2.3 billion. The state economists are projecting a shortfall in the next, 2009-2010, fiscal year (runs from July 1 to June 30), budget of $5 billion. Out of a budget in the area of $60 to $66 billion. Before the economy failed, the state budget was around $71 to $75 billion/year.
On a more individual scale, our power company, Progress Energy, has just gained approval to increase the cost of the first 1000 KWh by about 27%. Part of that cost is direct pay back to them for their expenditures on a new nuclear plant. They put out nothing, we all pay them for it, they own it at no risk. That is right, if they decide not to build it, or it never goes, for whatever reason, they haven't spent a dime. Under Florida law, they get to recoup every cent they spend on land aquisition, site development, design/engineering, equipment purchase, etc. from us, the customers. And we don't own a damn thing. If, for example, they buy a $100 million turbine, it gets delivered, the plant does NOT get built, and they sell off the turbine . . . we don't get a cent back.
On the up side, the weather here is pretty mild, so we don't need to use much energy to heat in the winter. And the mid-year "true-up" of their fuel adjustment charges will occur before the worst part of the summer cooling period, so if natural gas (used for back up/high demand generation) and coal (used, with nuclear, for basic power generation) stay cheap, then they will be forced to drop fuel adjustment surcharges in August '09.
One neighbor is the personnel (I hate the term "Human Resources") manager at Monterrey Boats here, and he has had to lay off huge numbers of employees due to drop in the recreational boat market. He has had to take a 15% reduction in pay himself, just to keep a job. Another neighbor is a tile-setter, does new construction and remodelling. He is said to be very good at what he does. He has had to travel to the Miami area to get work, as he has been out of a job for 6 months.
Pretty bleak here, and our governor, smilin' Charlie Crist, has done virtually nothing but grin and dispense positive platitudes about how the sun always rises in Florida first. Meanwhile, with state money so tight the new, republican speaker of the state house of reps. has just gotten in major hot water over steering $6 million to a project to build a hangar to house the private jet of a major republican fund raiser. There is a cover up of Watergate proportions beginning to unravel in which they tried to hide the building in the budget as classroom space (in a hangar?) for a local community college.
Hell, this is getting me depressed, so that is enough of how things are here in sunny Florida. At least for now.
to pay it back in devalued dollars. how happy do you think the US's creditors will be about that? they are already trying to shift their assets out of dollars. The US needs the external financing just as much as the creditor countries need the US to buy their goods.nutball wrote:The debt is in dollars. The US has paper and printing presses, all that is necessary to pay off that debt if it wishes to take that option.Matija wrote:USA is bankrupt. Your debt is so huge that it cannot realistically ever be paid back; you are owned by China and Japan.
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judge56988
- Friend of SPCR
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- Joined: Sun Jul 27, 2008 10:39 am
- Location: England
Re: So how are things in your part of the world?
Hopefully part of that shift will be a move away from the "throw away" mentality that exists now - electronic goods are virtually obselete when they are bought, my mobile phone contract gives me a free new phone every 12 months, cheap clothes from the Far East that are ruined after one wash...so much waste in all walks of life and a huge problem in where to dispose of that waste.Greg F. wrote: I don't want to be a "scrooge" during the holidays, but I see a fundamental shift in the world.
I hope that now people have less money to spend they will make things last longer, fix stuff when it breaks and not be conned by the advertising industry into thinking that their life is not complete without the latest/fastest/shiniest product.
Consumerism has gone mad over the last 25 years and it is simply unsustainable. Perhaps this crisis the world faces now will prove to be a blessing in disguise.
Anyway, deep in the English countryside it is damp, grey and miserable outside but warm and cosy inside by the log fire. My daughter is watching Doctor Who on a big old fashioned TV that has a better picture than any LCD screen I've seen and I'm typing this on a PC bought in 2004. It still does what I need it to do and it's reasonably quiet!!
Christmas is coming...I hope we get some snow.
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MikeC
- Site Admin
- Posts: 12285
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- Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Contact:
In Vancouver, BC, Canada.... Baby, it's cold outside! A week-long cold spell with daytime high not reaching 0 deg. C for a week now, every night -10 to -20C, and more of the same predicted into the new year. Much of the Lower Mainland is holed up; people around here are not used to driving in icy snowy conditions, lots of folks don't have snow tires, and only the main roads get paved anyway. 4~8" of snow predicted for 20-21 Dec. I haven't seen more than 2-3", but there's already been 6" in previous days, which hasn't gone away.
In a post-Obama city election, a left-of-center mayor and council was voted in to Vancouver, it's the first time in years that a non-right wing group is in power. Editorials suggest Vancouverites wanted Obama, but couldn't so chose the closest thing around here. Robertson is trying to make good on his promise of tackling homelessness by creating new temp shelters -- much need in this weather. The Surrey food bank, a much utilized resource, was broken into and pilfered 5 times in a week; amazing what people will do, but it helped to generate a big wave of donations the week after.
We've definitely been hit by the downturn in the world economy, and the CA$ has tanked since around Sept when it was at par with the US$ -- now it's only worth about 80 cents US. This affects buying power and prices in the stores, as so much of our goods are imported. Housing took a downturn this year, the first time in general for Canada in 10 years, but nothing like the beating in the US; our banks have virtually no sub-prime mortgages, in comparison.
The Canadian PM, Stephen Harper, is -- imo -- a racist, sexist, right wing pig who's on the verge of losing his minority coalition govt, which has committed $4 billion in emergency loans to automakers... which will surely flow south out of Canada and into the US quicker than birds in winter.
Aside from all that, things are fine and dandy. There's still a roof over my head, electricity & gas is still flowing, SPCR articles are still being written, it's warm in here, Betty's cooking up a storm, the aroma of cookies is filling the air.
Merry xmas!
In a post-Obama city election, a left-of-center mayor and council was voted in to Vancouver, it's the first time in years that a non-right wing group is in power. Editorials suggest Vancouverites wanted Obama, but couldn't so chose the closest thing around here. Robertson is trying to make good on his promise of tackling homelessness by creating new temp shelters -- much need in this weather. The Surrey food bank, a much utilized resource, was broken into and pilfered 5 times in a week; amazing what people will do, but it helped to generate a big wave of donations the week after.
We've definitely been hit by the downturn in the world economy, and the CA$ has tanked since around Sept when it was at par with the US$ -- now it's only worth about 80 cents US. This affects buying power and prices in the stores, as so much of our goods are imported. Housing took a downturn this year, the first time in general for Canada in 10 years, but nothing like the beating in the US; our banks have virtually no sub-prime mortgages, in comparison.
The Canadian PM, Stephen Harper, is -- imo -- a racist, sexist, right wing pig who's on the verge of losing his minority coalition govt, which has committed $4 billion in emergency loans to automakers... which will surely flow south out of Canada and into the US quicker than birds in winter.
Aside from all that, things are fine and dandy. There's still a roof over my head, electricity & gas is still flowing, SPCR articles are still being written, it's warm in here, Betty's cooking up a storm, the aroma of cookies is filling the air.
Merry xmas!-
aristide1
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The last thing I need is to have less money and of far less value.jaganath wrote:to pay it back in devalued dollars. how happy do you think the US's creditors will be about that? they are already trying to shift their assets out of dollars. The US needs the external financing just as much as the creditor countries need the US to buy their goods.nutball wrote:The debt is in dollars. The US has paper and printing presses, all that is necessary to pay off that debt if it wishes to take that option.Matija wrote:USA is bankrupt. Your debt is so huge that it cannot realistically ever be paid back; you are owned by China and Japan.
Mike - We've had 3 snow storms so far and another due before Christmas I believe. I don't recall it being this much last year.
N7SC - I think the numbers you display for the idiot tax on cigs is only of direct revenue. Every one who quits could and would have long term health cost reductions, which should also reflect back to the state in the long term. And don't disregard the long term, else you end up like the Detroit 3.
Around here property prices have just started to go backwards, but because there is a housing shortage, it will take a large rise in unemployment before prices are affected in a big way. Being a commodity currency, the Australian dollar fared worst against the USD in the recent sell-off, so the price of imported goods is just starting to rise. There's still a lot of inventory on the shelves that was paid for at the old exchange rates, but within 6 months I expect prices to be much higher than they are now. Most of our food is produced here, and the recent drop in the oil price should help keep down the cost of locally produced goods and services.
Unemployment is beginning to rise, and layoffs are increasing. Like in the US, everyone here is in debt up to their eyeballs, so I see plenty of trouble ahead. At least from my perspective, the banks still seem to be mostly functioning normally. The other day I received a letter from the bank informing me that the credit limit on my Visa card had been increased. It seems that we're a bit slower at catching on down here...
I've been expecting a crisis to occur for years, but how it will end is anybody's guess. Prepare for more shocking events. I took the step of moving all my wealth into silver bullion, so for now I'll just sit on the sidelines and see what happens.
Unemployment is beginning to rise, and layoffs are increasing. Like in the US, everyone here is in debt up to their eyeballs, so I see plenty of trouble ahead. At least from my perspective, the banks still seem to be mostly functioning normally. The other day I received a letter from the bank informing me that the credit limit on my Visa card had been increased. It seems that we're a bit slower at catching on down here...
I've been expecting a crisis to occur for years, but how it will end is anybody's guess. Prepare for more shocking events. I took the step of moving all my wealth into silver bullion, so for now I'll just sit on the sidelines and see what happens.
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N7SC
- Posts: 179
- Joined: Fri Jul 20, 2007 7:22 pm
- Location: Sunny Florida, where dead people vote 3 times in a county they never even lived in!
MikeC: Merry Xmas to you and yours as well. Thanks for SPCR, which is one of the two most intelligent and thoughtful forums that I frequent.
Aristide: Good point about the long term savings of discouraging smoking by raising the tax.
To answer the original question of this thread at a more personal level: The evening is winding down, my wife is sleeping comfortably (she is in the worst part of the flu that has gotten everyone in the family in the last ten days), our daughter is well on her way to recovery from the flu and has helped with dinner for everyone and feeding our three Great Danes. Christmas music is playing gently on the living room stereo, and the Danes are, more or less, behaving themselves after their dinner. We anticipate a short-lived cold snap for the next two days - night temperatures to dip to about 35F or about 1C to 2C, tomorrow's high to be about 58F or 14C. Then back to 55 to 58F (14C) at night and near 80F (26C) during the days for the next week or so. A warm and sunny Florida Christmas, but that is the way they nearly all are here, and we are all together.
Best to everyone, and wishes for a very happy new year.
Aristide: Good point about the long term savings of discouraging smoking by raising the tax.
To answer the original question of this thread at a more personal level: The evening is winding down, my wife is sleeping comfortably (she is in the worst part of the flu that has gotten everyone in the family in the last ten days), our daughter is well on her way to recovery from the flu and has helped with dinner for everyone and feeding our three Great Danes. Christmas music is playing gently on the living room stereo, and the Danes are, more or less, behaving themselves after their dinner. We anticipate a short-lived cold snap for the next two days - night temperatures to dip to about 35F or about 1C to 2C, tomorrow's high to be about 58F or 14C. Then back to 55 to 58F (14C) at night and near 80F (26C) during the days for the next week or so. A warm and sunny Florida Christmas, but that is the way they nearly all are here, and we are all together.
Best to everyone, and wishes for a very happy new year.
In The Netherlands we've had a calm Christmas vacation. A lot of people have had a week (sometimes two) off of work which did wonders for the daily traffic jams that are usually country-wide.
The government seems to react in an unusual manner to the slowing economy by announcing to increase government expenditure to stimulate the market (instead of the more normal reaction of drastically cutting budgets). The people have spent their normal inordinate amount of money on Sinterklaas and Christmas presents and are happy to say they don't feel the effects of the crisis. There do seem to appear more "for sale" signs on houses though and the sales figures for them are rapidly decreasing.
We have had a cold spell for the last two weeks. During daytime temperatures are barely reaching above freezing and during the night the temperature drops to between -3 and -8 Celsius. The smaller canals are freezing over and people are starting to take their ice-skates out of the grease (which is used as a preservative against rust). In the coldest parts of the country people are ice skating already which for a lot of children under the age of twelve is a first time event.
If the weather stays as cold is it is now there is the chance that a special event, called the "Elfstedentocht" (= eleven city course) can take place. This is a big event in The Netherlands where 16000 people will start an ice skating race over 200 kilometers passing eleven cities in one day. If you want to be able to say that you have done this course you have to finish it before midnight after an early morning start at 5 am. Due to the climate change the chances of it taking place are down to once every 18 years now. If the cold spell holds, this event will be the main subject of conversation for the next few weeks and no one will be talking about the economy crisis for a while, which is possibly a good thing.
The government seems to react in an unusual manner to the slowing economy by announcing to increase government expenditure to stimulate the market (instead of the more normal reaction of drastically cutting budgets). The people have spent their normal inordinate amount of money on Sinterklaas and Christmas presents and are happy to say they don't feel the effects of the crisis. There do seem to appear more "for sale" signs on houses though and the sales figures for them are rapidly decreasing.
We have had a cold spell for the last two weeks. During daytime temperatures are barely reaching above freezing and during the night the temperature drops to between -3 and -8 Celsius. The smaller canals are freezing over and people are starting to take their ice-skates out of the grease (which is used as a preservative against rust). In the coldest parts of the country people are ice skating already which for a lot of children under the age of twelve is a first time event.
If the weather stays as cold is it is now there is the chance that a special event, called the "Elfstedentocht" (= eleven city course) can take place. This is a big event in The Netherlands where 16000 people will start an ice skating race over 200 kilometers passing eleven cities in one day. If you want to be able to say that you have done this course you have to finish it before midnight after an early morning start at 5 am. Due to the climate change the chances of it taking place are down to once every 18 years now. If the cold spell holds, this event will be the main subject of conversation for the next few weeks and no one will be talking about the economy crisis for a while, which is possibly a good thing.
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aristide1
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- Joined: Fri Apr 04, 2003 6:21 pm
- Location: Undisclosed but sober in US
Inreased spending on infrastructure is similar to tax rate cuts, it's suppose to return as additional taxes and put more money into the economy. That's the theory, though it did not hold true after 9-11 and increased spending in security. Apparently more money for Halliburton didn't equate to more revenue. They left the US, tax revenue from them is now zero. What a patriotic way to spend money.
For those not following US news 570,000 jobs vanished in the US in November alone. Auto bailouts mean more credit for auto loans, how many unemployed will jump at the chance to buy a new car? Its rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
I can't bring myself to put all my money into cash and metals, I don't know where the bottom will be, and the process negates the advantages of dollar cost averaging. As usual 401K options are notoriously limited and poor. I rely currently on company stock because of it's odds and position in the current market and it's very substantial dividend currently based on it's rather feeble price.
School district budgets, run by local totalitarians, continues to run amock and blind to the people's circumstances. While I do not approve of violence I am surprised it hasn't started. The thing about violence is when it starts (not a question of if), will be its magnitude as it feeds upon itself, with more and more people willing to act to the "me too" attitude about being screwed grows orders of magnitudes.
On the other hand people may start seeing the logic behind buying local goods of all kinds and supporting a local economy. It's a tough lesson to learn but the understanding of interdependence is a very good thing.
When it's all said and done about the local economy where my home is, its value is now where it should be had the real estate bubble never happened in the first place.
Other stray thoughts as they occur.
I think very few people still realize the economic benfits to staying healthy:
Smaller food budget.
Smaller drug budget.
Smaller gas bill (walking, what a concept.)
Higher quality of life.
More SS checks over your lifetime.
For those not following US news 570,000 jobs vanished in the US in November alone. Auto bailouts mean more credit for auto loans, how many unemployed will jump at the chance to buy a new car? Its rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
I can't bring myself to put all my money into cash and metals, I don't know where the bottom will be, and the process negates the advantages of dollar cost averaging. As usual 401K options are notoriously limited and poor. I rely currently on company stock because of it's odds and position in the current market and it's very substantial dividend currently based on it's rather feeble price.
School district budgets, run by local totalitarians, continues to run amock and blind to the people's circumstances. While I do not approve of violence I am surprised it hasn't started. The thing about violence is when it starts (not a question of if), will be its magnitude as it feeds upon itself, with more and more people willing to act to the "me too" attitude about being screwed grows orders of magnitudes.
On the other hand people may start seeing the logic behind buying local goods of all kinds and supporting a local economy. It's a tough lesson to learn but the understanding of interdependence is a very good thing.
When it's all said and done about the local economy where my home is, its value is now where it should be had the real estate bubble never happened in the first place.
Other stray thoughts as they occur.
I think very few people still realize the economic benfits to staying healthy:
Smaller food budget.
Smaller drug budget.
Smaller gas bill (walking, what a concept.)
Higher quality of life.
More SS checks over your lifetime.