Depressing Economy

[Mike Luszcz]

I posted this here because I am mostly in this forum and was not sure where to put it. I just wanted to make a quick note. I am seeing a lot of people having to sell there "Pride and Joy" boats because of job loss or struggling times. I just wanted to wish luck to those in that situation and hope for better times. Although I have never met you guys in person, I have learned a lot from the friendly people on IW and I hate to see those people have to go threw these times. It just sucks. Mike

 

[Bill Gibson]

Yes...Well said Mike.... I sincerely hope that any of the nice folks on IW who have fallen on hard times due to this absurd economy will see better days immediatly! And i wish all of you nothing but prosperity and good times QUICKLY! Im all to aware of the fact that this could happen to anyone, anytime. I can honestly say that more than once im my life i have seen tight times..with a wife and 2 kids no less.....DONT EVER GIVE UP...Sincerely, Bill Gibson

 

[John Crouch]

I am sure that you will see some guys selling off there boats as things get worse. And they will get worse before getting better, thats for sure. My wife has allready been eyeballing my "fleet" and making coments about how much money they would bring right now, my comment to her was "not as much as it will cost to replace them later down the road". I have put my full size boat up for sale. I am the only one that goes out on it anyhow and only got to use it 2-3 times last year due to fuel prices.

Times will tell, we cant just hope for Obama to fix everything, but I wish him luck, we all need it!!!

 

[TERMINATOR]

I am sure that you will see some guys selling off there boats as things get worse. And they will get worse before getting better, thats for sure. My wife has allready been eyeballing my "fleet" and making coments about how much money they would bring right now, my comment to her was "not as much as it will cost to replace them later down the road". I have put my full size boat up for sale. I am the only one that goes out on it anyhow and only got to use it 2-3 times last year due to fuel prices.Times will tell, we cant just hope for Obama to fix everything, but I wish him luck, we all need it!!!

ia mtrimming the fat from my fleet , and am also feeling the economy crunch and having my hours cut at work.. but i have to say ..you must do what you have to do to stay alive ..selling your stuff i feel is not the way to go. but you must do what it takes.. i just hope that the stimulus package.."and not trying tostart a political war here" .. i hope it goes through and we all see it.. from a work standpoint and a hobby standpoint. i will be spending mine on my hobby.. i wish everyone else the same.. enjoy fellas we are here one time and they cannot take your birthday away..peace to all.

tk

 

[Richie R]

I know what you mean. We have our full size boat forsale also.

Since my wife works for the housing industry, its not good they shut down where she works for about 2 weeks this month and probaly the same or more next month. So our hobbies are kind of on hold right now. Things are tough all over, hopefully it will get better but I think the worse is yet to come. Hope Iam wrong.

Just take it one day at a time.

Richie R

 

[Brad Christy]

Guys,

I also don't believe selling my boats is going to solve anything. If I could sell one RTR scale a week, we might be talking, but my two riggers are just not going to mount any kind of attack against the onslaught of bills that seem to overflow the mailbox on a daily basis. I think I'll hang onto them. This way, when the water softens up a bit, I can go to the pond with what fuel I have left and throw my longest finger up in the air to the economy, because I at least still have my toys.

As for the "STIMULUS package"..... I watched to vote take place on C-SPAN the other day. The vote passed in the House by almost the EXACT margin the Democrats hold majority. Nearly every democrat voted for it (all by three, I think) and every Republican voted against it. Without going to deep into the politics, this tells me the package STINKS. I listened to spokesmen from both sides comment on the subject, and the package that was dropped in favor of the one that passed the House vote is far and away better. What can you say? The liberals are in control. It was their plan, so it's going through. I'm not counting on anything falling my way. From what I understand, "WE THE PEOPLE" aren't going to get any cash now, but rather they are going to distribute it ON OUR BEHALF to where they think it will to the most good, which means it's going to go to every bleeding heart micro special interest faction you can think of and the economy can just fly away for all they care. It's really kind of scary. The people who have lead us, from the lower decks, into the shallowest waters we've been in since WWII, are now in full command of the ship, with nobody able to challenge them. They've got the sails at full, the wheel is tied and they're standing on the bow like Leonardo DiCaprio, waving to the huddled masses, telling them there on no rocks to worry about.

It really doesn't matter what they do with the money. It's kind of like the "give me a fish, teach me to fish" thing: They can give us all a fish by handing us a check or they can teach us to fish by supportoing our employers. The problem now is they don't intend on doing either. They're going to throw the fish overboard and tell us that the sharks will be much happier and might not eat too many more of us.

I hope Oprah is proud of herself.

Thanks. Brad.

Titan Racing Components

BlackJack Hydros

 

[Chris Wood]

did anyone else see this morning that exxon mobile just announced they broke there own record profits from 2007 lol good god..

until the people you and i stand up and have had enough.. we will still be in the same boat we are in..

I feel for anyone that is jobless or there job is sketchy at best.. i hope nothing happens with me.. i feel pretty good about it but at the same time you never know. I can only hope by the end of the yr things get better.. but alot of people are saying it will take more than a yr or so to start a turn around.

I just hope the current prez doesn't dig us in a DEEPER hole than the last one. time will tell

chris

 

[Ron Olson]

I'm considering myself damned lucky right now as I've been at the same company for 36+ years now and despite everyone else getting pink-slipped, we're doing pretty well. When you're in the right paper market making cartons for food products, people still have to eat.

The problem is also that they're are Chinese companies doing what we do so we still can't be not watching our backs.

Does losing my job scare me though, you're darned tootin'! At my age I'd hate to try to find another one right now. The Jobs section in our newspaper went from almost a page to down to a little over a column.

Stimulus packages didn't really do a lot of good when people took the money and bought products made overseas with it.

 

[Speed Jr.]

"Tough times come and go, but tough people stick around."

Larry Gempp Jr.

-I was layed off this past monday.

 

[Brad Christy]

Chris,

It wasn't the "last prez" that put us in the tank we're in right now. The Democrats have been in control of the House and Senate for the last six years. Clinton signed the bill that allowed people who had virtually no income to get a mortgage for up 125% of the value of the home. The Democrats have been keeping this crap going ever since, plus allowing the unions to force our major domestic manufacturers to go oversees to stay competitive with the foriegn manufacturers. Now their COMPLETELY in control and it's FULL STEAM AHEAD! Now NOBODY can get any financing, which is keeping major corperations from being able to restructure themselves to better suit the current situation, and forcing THEM to fold.

The socialist occupation of Pennsylvania Ave is complete. Did anyone notice who Obama put in place to spearhead the correction of our economy? I can't bring her name to mind right at the moment, but she is the former head of the American Socialist Party. Go figure: A socialist favoring a socialist. That's like putting the rats in charge of the cheese.......

Everybody wants to blame the former administration for what we're in. You can't blame somebody for anything when they're hands are tied. I'm not going to say Bush was all that good of a President, but anything good he wanted to do was stifled in the gates by the liberals in control of congress. And it ain't the "war" either. We haven't even come close to the casualties suffered in WWII, nor have the costs compared either, if you take inflation into account. Not to mention that there hasn't been that FIRST terrorist movement inside the US since the invasion of Afghanistan. Not a single one. I see bumper stickers all the time saying "Bring Them Home"...... Yeah RIGHT. And bring the war with ya when you come!

Ron,

The problem isn't that people bought foriegn goods, it that they didn't buy anything at all! They either socked it away for more rainy days or used it to pay off some debt of it went into the monthly budget and evaporated. I know that's what our family did. And the same thing will happen the next time they hand out checks.

Larry,

I feel for ya. I've been off the clock since March '08. I'm just lucky to have you guys trying to keep your older engines running and a place to make the parts to allow you to do it. It hasn't been enough, but it's better than nothing. God knows there are no jobs to be had in the machine trades in Dayton, OH, and outside of machining, I've got the resume' of a high school graduate.

Thanks. Brad.

Titan Racing Components

BlackJack Hydros

 

[Don Ferrette]

"It wasn't the "last prez" that put us in the tank we're in right now. The Democrats have been in control of the House and Senate for the last six years. Clinton signed the bill that allowed people who had virtually no income to get a mortgage for up 125% of the value of the home. The Democrats have been keeping this crap going ever since, plus allowing the unions to force our major domestic manufacturers to go oversees to stay competitive with the foriegn manufacturers. Now their COMPLETELY in control and it's FULL STEAM AHEAD! Now NOBODY can get any financing, which is keeping major corporations from being able to restructure themselves to better suit the current situation, and forcing THEM to fold."

Yup, dead nut on target and things are going to get alot worse before they begin to get better. Layoff announcements totaling over 50,000 just in the last 48 hours. Am I nervous? Nope. Not nervous ..... scared as hell!! This "stimulus" package is a crock of you know what, bloated with more pork and special interest payoffs than you can imagine. Things like 5.2 BILLION dollars going to ACORN, currently under criminal investigation for massive voter fraud in the very election that put the "new messiah" in office.......

There were those who saw this coming YEARS ago, Ron Paul is one of them being very vocal about it and predicted, to the letter, exactly what is happening right now back in early 2002. Not to mention on numerous occasions McCain and others including even Bush raised red flags about all this mortgage "wheeling and dealing" going on only to have that fat b*stard Democrat Barney Franks, your head of finance on the hill, saying it all was nothing more than Republican paranoia and propaganda and everything was just fine. All of this is a matter of public record .... but you'll have to dig for it because the Democrats and left wing media did and are still doing everything they can to suppress this from the general public.

We are in for a world of hurt for a while I'm afraid.

 

[Zach Davis]

"It wasn't the "last prez" that put us in the tank we're in right now. The Democrats have been in control of the House and Senate for the last six years. Clinton signed the bill that allowed people who had virtually no income to get a mortgage for up 125% of the value of the home. The Democrats have been keeping this crap going ever since, plus allowing the unions to force our major domestic manufacturers to go oversees to stay competitive with the foriegn manufacturers. Now their COMPLETELY in control and it's FULL STEAM AHEAD! Now NOBODY can get any financing, which is keeping major corporations from being able to restructure themselves to better suit the current situation, and forcing THEM to fold."
Yup, dead nut on target and things are going to get alot worse before they begin to get better. Layoff announcements totaling over 50,000 just in the last 48 hours. Am I nervous? Nope. Not nervous ..... scared as hell!! This "stimulus" package is a crock of you know what, bloated with more pork and special interest payoffs than you can imagine. Things like 5.2 BILLION dollars going to ACORN, currently under criminal investigation for massive voter fraud in the very election that put the "new messiah" in office.......

There were those who saw this coming YEARS ago, Ron Paul is one of them being very vocal about it and predicted, to the letter, exactly what is happening right now back in early 2002. Not to mention on numerous occasions McCain and others including even Bush raised red flags about all this mortgage "wheeling and dealing" going on only to have that fat b*stard Democrat Barney Franks, your head of finance on the hill, saying it all was nothing more than Republican paranoia and propaganda and everything was just fine. All of this is a matter of public record .... but you'll have to dig for it because the Democrats and left wing media did and are still doing everything they can to suppress this from the general public.

We are in for a world of hurt for a while I'm afraid.

"WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama issued a series of executive orders Friday that he said should "level the playing field" for labor unions in their struggles with management."

Guess I was unaware the the Unions where having problems with their management.

Zach

 

[Ron Olson]

Sadly, we've found out that our days of greed are over. Gone are the days of saying "Put it on my plastic" and trying to live beyond our means. We can blame it on the government and CEO's with their golden parachutes and huge stock options but we have to look at ourselves also.

Now, while we're trying to dig ourselves out of the hole that we got into, the economy is going to suffer. A lot of us didn't learn the lesson that our parents or grandparents did, live under your means, not over it.

Yes, I didn't learn either as I'm up to my eyeballs in debt and am working 6 and 7 day weeks to dig myself out.

 

[Zach Davis]

Sadly, we've found out that our days of greed are over. Gone are the days of saying "Put it on my plastic" and trying to live beyond our means. We can blame it on the government and CEO's with their golden parachutes and huge stock options but we have to look at ourselves also. Now, while we're trying to dig ourselves out of the hole that we got into, the economy is going to suffer. A lot of us didn't learn the lesson that our parents or grandparents did, live under your means, not over it.

Yes, I didn't learn either as I'm up to my eyeballs in debt and am working 6 and 7 day weeks to dig myself out.

You have a good point. NO one made people apply for loans they could not afford. No one made people take out a second mortgage so the could buy a new Hummer.

Zach

 

[CySlyde]

ever wonder why the governments that have not been frinds of the US all supported barrack and the democratic party?

people with armchair degrees in economics with big corporate backers are in charge of this countries finances. They just passed the rest of the bank bailout, all those democrats who said it was bush's and his republican parties fault that there were no checks in place for how the money was spent??? well guess what they just did it again. almost a trillion dollars with absolutely no checks on how it will be spent. there are suggestions built into it, but nothing that says the money must be used in this fashion.

it will get worse.. much worse I fear

 

[Don Ferrette]

On Tuesday I had one of my vendors in the building to do some service and I got to talking with one of the techs about the economy. He told me how he bought his first house a couple years ago and how he had a very good real estate agent who gave him and his wife some very sound advice on buying their first house and how much they would qualify by conventional standards that had been in place for many years. They found a nice house and applied for a loan of $162,000 with 20% down, typical of how it "used to be". They qualified easily because they had good credit and income. Then, when it came time to talk with the "financial experts" he told me how the lenders gave them the full court press to take a $250,000 loan!! He told me that him and his wife said they didn't want that but the "loan officers" simply ramped up the pressure to take the "extra money" getting to the point of it almost becoming an argument between them and the lender agents about not taking it. Fortunately they didn't and they now have an affordable mortgage during rather unsettling times. Yeah the Dems can try all they want to pin this on Bush but this sub prime zero down crap started with Clinton and ramped up to full speed under Barney Franks and the Democratic controlled Congress, this is fact and easily verifiable if, again, one does a little research. They even gave these loans a nickname, called them NINJA loans- No Income, No Job or Assets. Can someone please explain to me the rationale of how anyone can say it's ok to give a loan to someone who has nothing vested in it (no down payment) no way to pay it back?!?!?

I single this out because this is where it all really started back in the late 90's...............

 

[Joe Warren]

I turn the TV off @ 9pm for the same reason, Now it invades the boat site....... Grease the Shaft on the R/C boat Or grease the chain on the Dirt bike & Get out of the House. Loading up today to visit a mx trax in Batesville ms & Let the 2 Smokes Eat!!! :huh: If that dont work?? Or if the Liquid if FROZEN... Load up you 40-45-50 cal Guns & Go to the Shooting range for some targets. Let the Water fly, The Dirt fly, & the Lead fly!!!!!!! Lets get it On......Its what Saturdays are made for.....

 

[Brad Christy]

Zach,

True, nobody forced anybody to take out mortgages they couldn't afford. People have always applied for mortgages when they had no business to. Hell, I know several people personally who tried to buy a house right out of college who were turned down flat. That's the way it USED to work. The banks had control over who got money and who didn't, so long as it was based solely on their ability to bay it back. If the bank thought they might have to work at getting the money back, they turned you down. But NOW, they can't do that. Clinton signed in a bill that allowed the government to back a loan so that anybody could find a way to get a loan approved, even if they were on state assisted welfare. For several years we had crackheads going downtown to the banks, filling out the paperwork, and even though the bank new they didn't have the means to pay it back, they had no choice but to grant the loan because the gov't was backing it and prevented them from declining it for any other reason. You let a couple hundred thousand of these go through for $100K+ and guess what? Here we are!

Don,

I saw what you're saying about ACORN. They acutally had some guy call in ranting and raving about how ACORN stole the election. C-SPAN shut him down as soon as they realized he actually knew what he was talking about. We can all thank ACORN for seeing to it that every homeless man, woman and child (that's right , I said child) got to vote in every county in the state. That's what all the early voting was all about! They went around to all the inner cities and loaded them up into vans and buses, drove them around to all the counties in the state so they could submit early ballots, so long as they voted for Obama. They even filled out the ballots for them, since many of them can't read or write. And since these homeless don't have any varifiable address other than "PARKBENCH", they were able to vote at multiple locations. In Cincinnati, OH, the local police forced them out of town. They had five buses, all liscenced in different counties (HHHMMM!!), loaded to the gills with homeless people, waiting for the early voting centers to open. The police escorted everybody off the buses and searched them. They found several trash bags full of McD's and other fast food bags, and several boxex of early voting ballots filled out and ready to submit. They had them already filled out and ready to pass them out to the "voters" so they could get on to the next voting center ASAP and to as many as they could in the time they had. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what was going on, but since the media muffled it so well, nobody raised enough of an alarm to do any good. It just sickens me to know that a bunch of people who have done so little for themselves that the only thing they can call their own is a parkbench was allowed to decide who our president was.

Thanks. Brad.

Titan Racing Components

BlackJack Hydros

 

[Tom Foley]

I turn the TV off @ 9pm for the same reason, Now it invades the boat site....... Grease the Shaft on the R/C boat Or grease the chain on the Dirt bike & Get out of the House. Loading up today to visit a mx trax in Batesville ms. Let the 2 Smokes Eat!!! :huh: If that dont work?? Or if the Liquid if FROZEN... Load up you 40-45-50 cal Guns & Go to the Shooting range for some targets. Let the Water fly, The Dirt fly, & the Lead fly!!!!!!! Lets get it On......Its what Saturdays are made for.....

Going riding in the morning Joe , first rain in about 8 weeks ! Track days are over , I'm in the woods now on the 450 EXC KTM . You got the right idea , get out and thrash what ever you got if you got the day off . Looking for a 20 mile ride tomorrow at Croom (2500 acre off highway vehicle park in Florida . Then maybe hit the Gulf , go 9 miles into INTL Waters and let the bullets fly !

 

[Blaise Recca]

Guys,
I also don't believe selling my boats is going to solve anything. If I could sell one RTR scale a week, we might be talking, but my two riggers are just not going to mount any kind of attack against the onslaught of bills that seem to overflow the mailbox on a daily basis. I think I'll hang onto them. This way, when the water softens up a bit, I can go to the pond with what fuel I have left and throw my longest finger up in the air to the economy, because I at least still have my toys.

As for the "STIMULUS package"..... I watched to vote take place on C-SPAN the other day. The vote passed in the House by almost the EXACT margin the Democrats hold majority. Nearly every democrat voted for it (all by three, I think) and every Republican voted against it. Without going to deep into the politics, this tells me the package STINKS. I listened to spokesmen from both sides comment on the subject, and the package that was dropped in favor of the one that passed the House vote is far and away better. What can you say? The liberals are in control. It was their plan, so it's going through. I'm not counting on anything falling my way. From what I understand, "WE THE PEOPLE" aren't going to get any cash now, but rather they are going to distribute it ON OUR BEHALF to where they think it will to the most good, which means it's going to go to every bleeding heart micro special interest faction you can think of and the economy can just fly away for all they care. It's really kind of scary. The people who have lead us, from the lower decks, into the shallowest waters we've been in since WWII, are now in full command of the ship, with nobody able to challenge them. They've got the sails at full, the wheel is tied and they're standing on the bow like Leonardo DiCaprio, waving to the huddled masses, telling them there on no rocks to worry about.

It really doesn't matter what they do with the money. It's kind of like the "give me a fish, teach me to fish" thing: They can give us all a fish by handing us a check or they can teach us to fish by supportoing our employers. The problem now is they don't intend on doing either. They're going to throw the fish overboard and tell us that the sharks will be much happier and might not eat too many more of us.

I hope Oprah is proud of herself.

Thanks. Brad.

Titan Racing Components

BlackJack Hydros

I blame Oprah for this whole stinking mess. And I thank God I don’t wake up from this bad dream and find her in my bed. Now that would be a cataclysmic event!!!!!!!