Black Christmas????

[bill937ca]

How's everyone feeling about the economy.  I'm working as a seasonal employee at Sears distribution centre.  I've never seen it so slow.  We should be busy all day, but we rarely are.  There's awhile to go yet but I suspect things aren't going to change too much. So much for the recovery.  I think the stimulus may reward a few so all can pay for a long time.

 

My Christmas train purchase is simply a Tomytec Pagoda.  I might have purchased a train in other years, but not with things the way they are now. 

 

Anyone else see this??

[CaptOblivious]

Bill, I'm sorry to hear that!

 

I'm a grad student, and so far I haven't felt the effects so much. Prices have gone up, but my paycheck is holding steady (and will for most at my uni: They just won't be getting bonuses or raises for a while). But I won't be getting paid next year, like I'd been planning on: my funding has been cut. Ouch! Have to find a new job to support my school work, but that shouldn't be too hard (in bad economies, people come back to school, and so other local unis are hiring instructors). The reason (aside from the funding cut) we won't feel it so much is the way our university's endowment is structured: Changes in the economy (up or down) have a lessened impact, but a longer impact, that for many. So, although I'm only feeling it a little bit right now (which is good), when things bounce back, and y'all are doing way better, I'll still be feeling it, just a little bit, for a couple of years (which is bad).

[Kabutoni]

I as well don't feel any effects from the crisis. My parents all the more unfortunately... Things are going in the good direction now, but tbh, I've gotten 'richer' since the crisis. My 'income' grew and prices dropped at places where I buy my stuff regularly. In a way I'm grateful for the crisis.

Europe wasn't hit that hard in comparison to the US I think...

 

Christmas was never a great event, rather then being with the family and having a good meal. Nothing more, nothing less. Actually quite traditional. It's a time to meet with family and friends. Not a time to exchange gifts and spend lots of money on things you don't really need. I've already treaten myself on a shipload from HW, so that'll be enough to satisfy my needs for a couple of months. :P

 

Good luck and hold strong for those who have been effected in a significant way!

[Darren Jeffries]

Well officially here in the UK we are still in the downturn and under a recession.

 

I haven't noticed too much in the stores, although we all will come January 1st as VAT is due to go up to 17.5% from 15%.

 

The big issue for me is petrol costs. A Tank of unleaded petrol now will cost me £60.00 this was around £47 two years ago.

 

They are now saying that petrol will reach £5 a gallon (UK gallon) by January, and again will be affected by the 2.5% VAT hike. This is a huge issue for me as I commute 30 miles each way to work so I get through a full tank of Petrol in 5 days. And before anybody says "Not good mpg" or "not good gas milage", yes i know, i drive a landrover freelander. But I live in the countryside where we frequently get flooded in, snowed in and the nearest town outside of my own is 18 miles.

 

Other than that, I havent noticed too much else.

[Guest ___]

I had fared well until January when my company laid off 25 office staff, followed in March by 100 in production, followed by another hundred this past wee. so much for Obama's pledge to fund alternative energy, my plant at bp solar is shutting down for relocation to India. 198 million dollar expansion scraped here in the states, and a 90 million dollar building is being torn down before the last wall was even fabricated. (bp announced the first layoffs the day after Obama won.)

 

As for me, I've gone from making nearly 50k as a technical writer to working 65 hours a week at a distribution centers for a bio-tech. I'm making in 65 hours what I made in about 38 at bp. If not for the OT, I'd be sunk. Thankfully, the OT is going to last forever. Sadly, for my health, I won't make it much longer at 65 hours a week. My blood sugar is out of control, and after 6 weeks I am having a hard time controlling it on second shift.

 

The only upside is that I bankrolled a trip to Osaka for March in about three weeks at work without it affecting any of my other expenses or bills.

[Lawrence]

Being the one who does the food shopping in the house, I have noticed a month on month rise in grocery bills and I am now paying 107p per litre of diesel (which is nearly £65 if I fill from empty).

 

Gas & electric have stayed the same, but as we approach the festive season, I can see many retailers trying a few fast ones with their pricing policies to make some cash over the period.

 

So yes we have had to tighten our belts a little (thankfully SWMBO has a little job and brings in some cash too) and I also know that in 15 months time I will be out of a job, so things could be better, they could also be a lot worse though, so we are grateful for what we have got and take each day as it comes.

[Bernard]

In the US they are saying how the economy is on an up swing but that unemployment is at a high. This statement baffles me, how can people spend when they don't have jobs? (Buy on credit and let it catch up to you later?! :dontknow:)

 

This holiday season is going to be a tough one, we have cut back on our holiday shopping list drastically. Driving around town today, most of the stores weren't as busy as you thought they might be.

[westfalen]

Things don't seem to be going so bad down here in Australia, the economic experts (the same experts who didn't see it coming in the first place) are saying we are not out of it yet, but it's getting harder to find somewhere to park at the mall on Saturday mornings as Christmas gets closer, so people must have money to spend.

 

Hearing the British are paying twice what I am for petrol makes me feel a little better too.

[Kabutoni]

Hearing the British are paying twice what I am for petrol makes me feel a little better too.

 

Hasn't that always been the case? That could be a reason why Down Under the Aussies are still cruising around in those lovely V8 Holden and Ford rides in the outback :9

[westfalen]

Hearing the British are paying twice what I am for petrol makes me feel a little better too.

 

Hasn't that always been the case? That could be a reason why Down Under the Aussies are still cruising around in those lovely V8 Holden and Ford rides in the outback :9

True.

For the record though, I drive a Honda.

[Mudkip Orange]

In the US they are saying how the economy is on an up swing but that unemployment is at a high. This statement baffles me, how can people spend when they don't have jobs? (Buy on credit and let it catch up to you later?! :dontknow:)

 

This holiday season is going to be a tough one, we have cut back on our holiday shopping list drastically. Driving around town today, most of the stores weren't as busy as you thought they might be.

 

When people talk about "the economy" these days they're really just talking about the Dow. Thing is, the companies on the Dow are mostly multinationals; they have big holdings in China and other asian countries. And the stock market tends to reward mass layoffs and other "efficiency" measures, regardless of how good an idea it is. Circuit City's stock jumped like 20% when they fired all their long-time commission employees, and we see where that got them.

 

So if China is going gangbusters and companies are boosting their short-term cashflow by firing people, the stock market makes it look like "the economy" is going good. But on the ground, rising unemployment means less money being spent *anywhere* which means that mom-and-pops have to lay people off too, forcing a spiral.

[Nozomi]

Switzerland is hit by the recession like most countries, but maybe not as hard. The Unemployment rate is around 4% which is very high for  Swiss standards. The main difference to the hardest hit countries (i.e. the English speaking world)  is that there is no fall in the value of real estate. Most Swiss (around 70 percent) live in rented apartments and houses. To buy a house is out of the question for most. Land price are unbelievably high.  And those who can afford to buy have to bring a down payment of usually no lower than 20 percent  of the value of the house) to get a mortgage. Also you are expected to pay back a large chunk of the Mortgage within 10 years. Mortgage rates are stable between 2 and 4 percent. Also the Swiss like to pay their purchases in cash or with debit cards and those who use credit cards pay in full each month (over 90 % of credit card bills are paid in full). Because of that cash habit overall consumption has not dropped like in other countries where people still have to pay for goods they got last year or worse.

 

Gasoline prices went up again recently but not that much because oil is traded in US dollars and the green back lost a lot of its value against the Swiss franc.

 

Overall  Switzerland fared not too badly in this global crisis which doesn’t mean that there’s no suffering on an individual basis and strong pressure on the social security network.

 

For me personally there is no negative effect. I’m glad to have a well paid, stable government job with almost no risk of getting laid off.  Got lucky this time but you’ll never know….

[scott]

I’m glad to have a well paid, stable government job with almost no risk of getting laid off.  G

 

That's what I thought, too, until budget-cutting became the focus around here. Now I'm sort of biting my nails about what will happen next year. Not that I'm cutting expenses way back or getting a second job or anything responsible like that.

[Lawrence]

Looks like this recession is not just hitting us little guys, I see now that Dubai is close to bankruptcy and the UAE are refusing to help them out.  Wonder if petrol prices will go up even more soon to bail them out

[bill937ca]

Looks like this recession is not just hitting us little guys, I see now that Dubai is close to bankruptcy and the UAE are refusing to help them out.  Wonder if petrol prices will go up even more soon to bail them out

 

Oil prices are expected to exceed $100 a barrel early in 2010.  We are running out of cheap oil.

 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/blogs/jeff-rubins-smaller-world/why-is-oil-already-so-high/article1350584/?cid=art-rail-jeffrubinssmallerworld

 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/blogs/jeff-rubins-smaller-world/get-ready-for-triple-digit-oil-again-soon/article1343977/

[disturbman]

Of course Dubai and the others were going to be hit by the economic downfall. Their economy is relying on oil sales and those were high because of the high demand induces by the worldwide economic growth. But let's face it everybody was more or less it by this recession. I know that in France people were completely paranoïd about it. All my friends thought they were going to lose their jobs, even though that was not possible. Blame media panic and manager pressure. I'm wondering what is going to be the effect of the flu if it ever become a real problem or if everybody go crazy about it.... Who's gt his shot here?

 

And as Mudkip says the economy is not the Dow and the other stockmarket. There is a real problem on public information.

[quinntopia]

I'm very fortunate to have a job with a company where I directly contribute to generating profits, so when leadership does decide it needs to make cuts, I'm pretty well insulated.  Around here (Seattle area) its very hard to see the recessions, roads and parking lots are packed as is usual at this time of year.  I recall reading that this recession is hitting certain areas of the US more harshly than others.

 

I used to be very "Keynesian", but I fear that the debt-financed stimulus attempts where either ineffective, or not seriously directed to prime the economy as they might have in the past.

 

I also see that the USD is losing more ground against the Yen, which means more expensive Japanese trains in the future (on top of already expensive European trains, which has been the case for a year) as well - fortunately, we don't have a VAT in the US (yet). 

[grumbeast]

Things are only just beginning to hit here in Atlantic Canada, and to be honest we're not expecting much of a hit.  Thats the nice thing about living in a "have not" province, very little here was over-valued (in fact a lot was under-valued) our wages were on average lower than most of the rest of Canada and our cost of basics a little higher.  So we've been watching bits of the world panic around us without really feeling too much, its just been bringing a lot of the rest of the country in line with our reality!

 

Still, malls are busy here, houses still selling.  I guess if the region you live in wasn't relly prosperous in the first place it doesnt really make too much difference

 

G.

[disturbman]

That's quite true. Here, in Berlin, people didn't seem to feel the pressure of the crisis. Life goes on like before. Might be logical in a city with 18% unemployment rate... As a matter of fact since the beggining of the crisis the city seems more prosperous than ever.