Stock market goes below 8,000 to 6 year low
Unemployment this morning at 16 year high
Auto maker CEO's arrive in DC to beg for $50B each in their own private jets (i.e. they are too stupid to succeed), and refuse $1 a year gestures
Auto Unions refuse to yield anything more (i.e. they are too stupid to succeed)
Over 1 million more jobs at risk in auto disaster
Credit loosening, IF THERE, is making no difference
Public confidence is SHOT. Rasmussen finds 26% think congress has a clue. Only 26% think congress can 'fix' this.
We do NOT have confidence in govt, and this has been a long time building.
Everyone has stopped buying
Prices are falling in the beginning of a deflationary spiral which will cost more jobs (42" 720P LCD for $499 ..NEWEGG - GUYS&GALS)
Inventories of everything will end the need for production >> more layoffs
Gas will be $1.50/gallon by Christmas
If this continues we WILL reach a point where overseas deployment of troops WILL END. There will be no popular support.
No one will care about Sharia creep because the electricity will be going off.
No one will doubt MASSIVE federal interventions will be compulsory (whether that is true or not)
The left is WAY FAR ASCENDANT in this scene, a large part of which is already FACT.
Unemployment this morning at 16 year high
Auto maker CEO's arrive in DC to beg for $50B each in their own private jets (i.e. they are too stupid to succeed), and refuse $1 a year gestures
Auto Unions refuse to yield anything more (i.e. they are too stupid to succeed)
Over 1 million more jobs at risk in auto disaster
Credit loosening, IF THERE, is making no difference
Public confidence is SHOT. Rasmussen finds 26% think congress has a clue. Only 26% think congress can 'fix' this.
We do NOT have confidence in govt, and this has been a long time building.
Everyone has stopped buying
Prices are falling in the beginning of a deflationary spiral which will cost more jobs (42" 720P LCD for $499 ..NEWEGG - GUYS&GALS)
Inventories of everything will end the need for production >> more layoffs
Gas will be $1.50/gallon by Christmas
If this continues we WILL reach a point where overseas deployment of troops WILL END. There will be no popular support.
No one will care about Sharia creep because the electricity will be going off.
No one will doubt MASSIVE federal interventions will be compulsory (whether that is true or not)
The left is WAY FAR ASCENDANT in this scene, a large part of which is already FACT.
33 comments:
"Inventories of everything will end the need for production >> more layoffs"
Do we 'produce' much of anything ourselves anymore?
I challenge you to find a pair of "made in the USA" shoes. SHOES! We all wear them . . .but can you find a single pair made here?
I love people who think the most brilliant nation in the world ought to be spending their time making shoes.
I also love people who conveniently forget that we produce all the software and much of the hardware of the technology/biotecnology revolution.
Profound ignorance is what makes a person able to make the statement above.
Yah the question is, do we write the software which tells the robotic machines how to make a shoe?
Do we write the software which tells the machine how to make the robot that makes the robot which makes the shoe?
Do we create the language which IS the software?
Do we reserve those items WE MUST produce for national security in such a way that we can do it better faster cheaper than anyone else?
Maybe if jobs get worse we should become PIRATES
That's a growth industry
Right more RUM!
Maybe if things get worse, we can go back to making shoes so our anonymous friend can have a job.
Or, maybe our anonymous friend can just serve me and Midnight Rider from behind the bar.
Right, MR?
Rum! Beer! Bourbon! Anonymous is serving & buying! Cheers! (Actually, I have several pairs of shoes made in the U.S.A.)
Midnight Rider,
Did you make 'em?
Nah. Mostly work boots. But with a big old American Flag on the inside and the "Proudly made in the U.S.A." logo.
I try not to get hung up on made here or there, though. As a collector in the 80's and 90's the great knives were made in Japan. Because they could do incredible work more cheaply. Now that has started to swing to other countries as it always does and should. I personally would rather pay for quality regardless of where it comes from. Though I try to be mindful of how those countries may treat laborers.
I'm for little teeny gov't and Great Big Defense (which hanging around here would indicate). I don't think we should be bailing anything out.
Unless Austin Nichols Distillers is having problems. . .
Some of this has been caused by our instant gratification society over a very long term. As people wanted things quicker and to keep up with their neighbor they began to care less about quality and more about having it now. Technology developed to keep up with that but it meant less jobs, a pace which continues today. Why pay for a fine Amish handmade chair when you can get a WalMart cheapy. Or maybe all you could afford was a WalMart cheapy. It wasn't neccesarily greed that drove it but society's demand. That's no shot at automation and technology, just is as it is as I see it. Afterall, it's technology that made us the greatest military history has seen, the reason we won WW II. Because we had the manpower and, through automation, could out produce the Axis. Now other nations are using that same technology for their mass production demands. And why shouldn't they? And as long as it's honest isn't that competition healthy? Make us all strive a little harder to be better, do better, instead of rolling over and taking a gov't handout?
You know what's funny? Those who are Democrats are more likely to be "We are the world" people. But, they are also more likely to be pro-Union.
the Unions tells us to buy American.
But, a we are the world sentiment would tell us to buy anywhere.
So, which is it?
I'm a free market guy. Like you, I'll buy what is good no matter where it comes from
When it comes to computers, drums, music and books (which are the major things I'm interested in), the best stuff is ALL made in America.
Pastorius said...
I love people who think the most brilliant nation in the world ought to be spending their time making shoes.
-------
I think the point the guy is trying to make is you can't eat or wear software. If a country doesn't make some things they are at the mercy of way too many bad things. If nothing/little comes into the US from overseas, tell me what you will wear? Don't look at the Baltic Dry Index or you'll want to go now and buy everything you think you'll need during the next 5yrs.
They're only pro-union lip service. As unions represent a control thing. Dems being big on the control thing. Once upon a time the unions served a good and noble purpose, making places like the mines & slaughter & packing houses safe and maiing sure a fair wage for a fair day's work. And to a degree they still perform that task but anymore are corrupt or being corrupted and have the What's in it for us? attitude, often intruding into things unions have no business intruding into.
I still think if, as a whole, people would again start demanding & paying for quality, of necessity more people would be put back to work and there would then be more money in the American economy to spend on quality. I have early 1930's psitols that perform better than the day they were born and new ones that jam often. Antique knives that can be sharpened to a razor and new ones that won't slice an apple neatly. A 1963 Epiphone Casino that sounds sweeter than any new ES 335. Quality counts but that doesn't mean technology & quality are mutually exclusive.
Samenokami - at least for me I understand your point but as far as I'm concerned if Gunther in Solingen can build e a better stockman;s knife than Joe in Idaho, I'm buying from Gunther though it cost a little more. If Guiseppe's wine tastes better than Ernest and Julio Gallo's I'm buying Guiseppe's. It should just encourage Joe and Ernest and Julio to work harder to turn out a better product at a competative price. Instead most folks will buy Joe and Ernest and Julio's stuff because they turn it out fast and rush it to market. Nevermind that Joe's blade won't cut the tax seal from Ernest's bottle and Julio's product tastes like vinegar.
MRider, I totally agree. My point is what if...? Knives and guitars! My kinda fellow blogger!
I guess that is my point. That stuff is still made here but you have to be willng to look for it. And by and large it will last 3 or 4 times longer than what's made overseas. It's not that we won't be able to get it but we won't have (or need) as much of each because what we have will last longer.
Every country has it's strong points in manufacture (or anything else). German knives were awesome the 20's through the mid-60's. Then American knive became ascendant for a few decades. Then Japanese. Now it seems to be swinging to Taiwan (though the quality isn't quite there) and a bit back to the U.S. But through it all the cheap junk was made in China etc. That's stuff has all wasted and rusted away. But in my pockets right now are a 1950's German Eye Brand stockman and a 1929 (ish) pen knife. Properly cared for even though used are in better shape now, all these years later, than the day they left the factory. So what if China stops shipping crap steel to us. I have these. But we must be willing to work for that quality and pay for it.
Right now we're strong on the technology, the software etc. And we make damn fine stuff (it fuels our military, don't it). Problem is few buy it because they can get a cheaper Asian made computer. But if they stopped sending them, then we would be forced to pay for the better stuff. More of it will be made more folks put to work to make it etc.
Dang I'm starting to ramble a bit.
Right. . .
Knives guitars guns books tunes and booze! It's a wonderful life!
SamenoKami,
Yes, I understand.
Thanks for pointing that out and bringing me back to reality.
However, somehow I am not worried about us. I think we can make shoes if we want to.
At this point, we don't live in the cobblers house. We live in the Adminstrator's house.
If the town falls into chaos, and the cobbler's house burns down. We'll have to build him a new house, to make sure that shoes can be made.
I am not going to condemn America for choosing to turn its mind to more difficult tasks. After all, we're the ones who can do those more difficult tasks.
But like I said, you are right in essence.
Do you understand my point?
Ever notice that this blog is, often, more interesting in its comments section than on the front page?
Midnight rider,
Just for the record, California makes the best wines in the world, though Australia and Chile are catching up.
:)
Pasto you partisan wino! Huh. Yeah, well Kentucky still makes the best bourbons of anywhere (d'oh!)
IBA comments & commentors have been rather lively of late. Even more than usual. Guess that front page just gets us thinking. . .
Midnight Rider,
I am definitely partial to Californian wines.
Heck, I can't afford most of the stuff, but that's another discussion.
Since we've stumbled drunkenly into the subject be sure to patronize your favorite wine merchant today -- it's Beaujolais Nouveau Day! Chilled for a couple hours it awesome with leftover turkey sandwiches on Black Friday.
Pastorius, I absolutely understand. I just think we need to be careful about being the boss when we may eventually have to be the laborer.
A while back I broke the handle off of my shovel while prying at a large root. It's one that I inherited from my dad, who got it from his dad. I thought I'd swap in another handle from a Walmart edging tool about a year old). I separated the replacement handle from its mate in under five minutes and then looked at the broken one. I assumed the long longitudinal slot along it's neck flange would be a great place to pry with a flat blade screwdriver. There was enough broken handle remaining that I got a good bite on it with the bench vise.
I started prying the flange while hammering the foot-brace part of the blade. And then I put some ear plugs in. A broken screwdriver tip and about an hour of drilling and chiseling later, I finally removed what remained of the old handle (well most of it). I could not believe how freaking hard that steel was. Two screwdrivers and a chisel could not pry that slot open at all - could not even flex it.
My great grandchildren will not be muslim, but they will have a really good spade if burying bodies by hand becomes necessary again.
That's what I mean. Quality. Regardless (mostly) of where it's made. A new cheap spade would have chipped on a rock. When a society becomes throw away it starts to throw itself away.
Anonymous from first comment: I wear SAS shoes at work because they are about the best made and have the most support of any shoe around. They are made in Texas. A few years back the firm made the news by giving their workers a year-end bonus of $1,000 -- for each year they had worked for the company.
RRA -- now THAT'S what I'm talking about. If you build it they wil come. Oh, wait, um. . .
Unlike during the previous recent downturns, we are not able to spend our way out of this recession. At least, I can't, not with Mr. AOW out of work from his primary job since January 23, when the layoffs hit the auto-parts distributors. That particular downturn had been at least three years in the making.
If my husband and I didn't have this outrageous monthly healthcare premium of $1200 (COBRA; the private quote for Mr. AOW alone was $4000/month), we would be able to buy.
As things are right now....
Forget buying a new car or some other item we need and/or want.
Forget taking a vacation.
Forget ordering new books from Amazon (with the occasional irresistible exception such as Spencer's Stealth Jihad.
Forget funding our IRA's.
Forget giving Christmas presents this year (with a few exceptions).
Forget funding the KFNX show we started in July.
Forget dinners out.
Forget renewing magazine subscriptions.
Etc.
Etc.
The biggest focus in this household is paying that health insurance bill and real estate taxes.
Thank God that we don't have a mortgage!
In my view, America is spiraling into a depression -- and right quick, too.
The economic sky is indeed falling. And recovery will be long and hard, not just a blip as recoveries from recession typically are in duration.
This shit is serious, folks!
Well, at least with the price of petroleum going down, we can keep the heat on (oil furnace).
AOW -- I commiserate with you on that. Mrs Midnight (that just sounds so wrong) has been out of work since June. We don't have the insurance issue but do the mortgage, 2 kids in college, car pymts etc.
My point was not meant to sound as if we can spend our way out of this. I don't believe it. My grandmother lived as a young adult through the Great Depression and still tells stories.
Mine was a looking back perspective. When manufacture started moving off shore for quick and cheap, and the consumer tacitly agreed to it by prefering quick and cheap, it only encouraged the manufacturers to continue apace. In part leading us to where we are now.
If you really want to ruin your supper, read the article I just posted here a little while ago (shameless self plug if I ever wrote one).
Serious, yes. Do I get down about my situation and our national outlook, sure.
That's where the gallows humor helps.
Although for Pasto it sounds like it would be Gallo's humor ;>)
Midnight Rider,
My comment was in no way directed at you.
There is one good thing about a recession, if it last long enough and is deep enough: it puts important things, such as simple pleasures, into perspective.
AOW -- no offense was taken. Just got me thinking & didn't want anything I may have said to have been misconstrued. Cuz I can get gabby and have my train of thought derailed ;>) Back to my grandmother, Simple pleasures during the depression and other hard times meant Christmas was an orange in the stocking. Best to you and your family to get back on track as soon as possible. Have a great Thanksgiving in giving thanks for even the simplest of pleasures.
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