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In the bay area a lot of high priced people have been laid off. 500 from
Medtronics, several hundred from Agilent, and many of the telecom companies
have folded their tents. Some of the big telecom companies have laid off
hundreds. Those $700,000 to million dollar homes that where going like hot
cakes last year might just come back on the market. Even the wine industry
which is big in Sonoma and Napa counties is taking a hit with layoffs. Yet
the owners of retail space keep raising the rents, Apartment houses have a 2%
vacancy factor and their rents keep climbing. Everyone says that we are in a
deflationary spiral and prices are coming down. Air fares are supposed to be
a bargain. forget it. Checked on flights to Hawaii, they are twice what they
were the last time I went just over a year ago. I am wondering what good the
producer price index is when we import almost everything we use. Cloths and
shoes from the far east, food and vegetables from South America and
Australia, timber from Canada, oil from the middle east, electronics from the
far east and auto parts from all over. We do produce missiles and airplanes
here and I am sure that every household has at least two or three of each.
The made in America symbol means very little. It should read, assembled in
America, parts made elsewhere. So when you see all those fancy numbers, look
at the balance of payments and see where your dollars are really going. Of
course gas prices are back down to $1.75, a real bargain. Medical costs are
up, health insurance costs are up, dental work costs more, almost everything
you buy to sustain life is up in cost. Of course you can buy a 2 MHz
computer for under $2000 and that is proof that prices are coming down. How
many of you buy a computer on a weekly basis? Is it really 0% financing on a
new car or is the cost hidden in the price? What is truth and what is
fiction in the numbers that are thrown our way? Could you maintain the same
life style on last years income or on the income from 5 years ago? As the
powers say, we haven't had any inflation for the past 5 years. Is there any
correlation between the governments CPI, PPI and inflation numbers and the
cost of living. They produce the numbers, we have to pay to live. Oh, yes.
You did get a tax rebate and immediately went out and bought that cabin
cruiser you where looking at with all that money the government returned to
you. Have a good week. Ira.
bruce.larson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> I've read plenty about hospitality and tourism being hit in Orange
> County(Disneyland) where I live. But these are all minimum wage jobs
> (restaurants, airlines, hotels) where there was a labor shortage
> several months back. These aren't people who buy expensive homes and
> cars.
>
> --- In realtraders@xxxx, "Me Tarzan" <ibe98765@xxxx> wrote:
> > "I, for one, don't personally know anyone who is out of a job"
> >
> > Consider yourself lucky. I know way too many. With all the
> defense
> > spending going on, So. CA might not get hot too bad. But IMO, the
> SF
> > Bay area is the harbinger for much of the rest of the country in
> this
> > regard. We even have a web site for out of work people to get
> > together and do other activities <g>
> (http://www.recessioncamp.com).
> > I'm a few miles from SF Airport where United Airlines has a major
> > hub. They have laid off a good number of people here. I hear that
> > In-n-Out burgers has lowered their starting hourly rate from $10/hr
> > to $8 because their are so many candidates. Hotels are mostly less
> > than 50% full and are laying off or cutting back the hours of
> > workers. Restaurants are cutting staff because people are not
> eating
> > out as much or spending as much when they do. There are rental
> > vacancy signs all over my neighborhood as people without jobs have
> > either moved in with someone else or left the area. Recruiters are
> > going out of business left and right, saying businesses are not
> > hiring. People are hurting.
> >
> > As to the unemployment numbers and 5.4% being lower than what was
> > previously accepted - that was a different time. We've built our
> > current economy around low unemployment. People expecting to
> always
> > be able to find work went out on a limb to buy expensive houses,
> cars
> > and take 2 vacations a year. That drove the economy forward across
> > all industries. But up here, it generally takes two working people
> > to even begin to afford a mortgage. What happens when at least one
> > of those people loses their job? Bad news cascades and not only do
> > people not by houses and cars, but they cut back on other spending
> as
> > well. Predictions I have seen are for unemployment to hit 6% when
> it
> > the numbers are next reported.
> >
> > Here's a good economic link with a lot of info on unemployment that
> I
> > recently came across:
> > http://www.epinet.org/
> > --- In realtraders@xxxx, bruce.larson@xxxx wrote:
> > > I've been reading about massive corporate lay-offs esp associated
> > > with banking mergers for the past 5 years. Seemed everyone just
> > got
> > > a big fat severance package and turned around and got another job
> > for
> > > more money. Otherwise they got rehired as consultants for better
> > > pay. I suppose the payrolls and claims data are confirming the
> > > negative news reports for the past several months. But on the
> > other
> > > hand, a 5.4% unemployment rate is far below the previous 6%
> > standard
> > > of NAIRU(non-accelerating inflationary rate of unemployemnt)
> > commonly
> > > accepted in the early 90s. I, for one, don't personally know
> > anyone
> > > who is out of a job. Aside from some furniture chain store
> > closures,
> > > I really don't see much evidence of a slowdown out here in
> southern
> > > California...yet.
> > >
> > >
> > > --- In realtraders@xxxx, "Norman Winski" <nwinski@xxxx> wrote:
> > > > Me,
> > > >
> > > > I am forecasting a better than expected holiday shopping
> > > > season. The US economiy bottomed last week. You will hear about
> > > > it in February.
> > > >
> > > > Cheers,
> > > >
> > > > Norman
> > > >
> > > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > > From: "Me Tarzan" <ibe98765@xxxx>
> > > > To: <realtraders@xxxx>
> > > > Sent: Saturday, November 10, 2001 1:50 AM
> > > > Subject: [RT] Layoff's continue to increase
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > > Each layoff likely removes one more shopper for the Xmas
> > season...
> > > > >
> > > > > http://www.msnbc.com/news/555872.asp?cp1=1
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> > > > > realtraders-unsubscribe@xxxx
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
> > > http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
> > > > >
> > > > >
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
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>
>
>
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