Have you been effected by the economic downturn yet?

[Mem]

It seems like a regression, doesn't it? Children doing less well than their parents...

Children are also working less hard and saving less than their parents.

 

[Mr. Snakey]

Not really. Im in retail and the numbers are up.

 

[silvertriumph2]

My majority of my stocks have depreciated between 40% and 50%, so far.
It's real scary and I'm beginning to worry if my retirement is secure. The only
stocks that seem to be doing well are my two energy stocks. My 401K was
demolished during the last go around and is still a disappointment. I certainly
will not be living the good life like I had planned.

I noticed yesterday and today that there were very few shoppers at Whole Foods
where I shop. They have 22 checkout stands plus 2 for those with few items. On
both days, only about half of the checkout stands were open, and I flew through
with only a few minutes wait.

And, at RiteAid and CVS drug stores, I went in and out in only a few minutes...no
lines at the check out. Yesterday, Macy's felt almost spooky with so few shoppers
on the selling floors...and it is the beginning of holiday shopping. I went to BestBuy
and Circuit City and there were few customers....especially at Circuit City where the
employees seemed to out number the customers.

On the way home from Circuit City, I passed by the unemployment office and it was
packed inside and with a short line outside on the sidewalk. I have never seen it so
packed.

Yes, I have been effected and, unfortunately, I think many will be effectred before
this ends.

 

[IronMonkey]

I have decent job security, some savings to get me by just in case and try to live below my means, and i paid enough attention to the news to bail out of stocks last year. My parents are retired and money is safe places so no worries there.

But many friends have been or have been notified that will be laid off or have their hours cut. These cut across many different industries--software, biotech, financial, retail, service off the top of my head. Several have moved back to their home cities/states/countries to live with family or friends. Two have started hitting the food banks because they can't make ends meet otherwise. They aren't people who spent above their means, they're just working class people who just had a baby when things looked better and now just barely pay rent because their hours/jobs got cut.

People i used to go out to dinner/movies with (who haven't moved out of the area) either can't afford to go out or don't want to anymore. Consequently i don't eat out these days and watch movies at home since i don't like eating out or going to movies alone.

At work i know several people lost 40-60% of the value of their retirement (depends on what the market is on that particular day i guess), anywhere between tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars, and i suspect that one coworker is about lose their home to foreclosure. Luckily they have fairly secure jobs that pay well and should come through okay eventually. Many of our contractors may be in trouble once their contracts end, nobody knows what the official staffing level will be next year for them except that it will be less.

Some magazine rated seattle one of the most recession proof cities, so i can't imagine how much worse it must be in other cities.:frown1:

 

[findfirefox]

I work for a Bank (U.S. Bank/U.S. Bancorp) and its strange to watch the whole situation from within a company in the "center" of banking hell do so well.

On Friday we "saved" or acquired two new banks in SoCal (PFF & Downey), luckily for them (or their customers) we stepped to purchase them as federal regulators were closing the branches.

This is the third bank we purchased that we've kept from failing, and it appears that it won't be be the last... Don't be suprised if the banking industry turns into a "big few situation" after were out of this.

Weee!

 

[B_starinvestor]

Felt it from all sides. I'm in the investment management business. The S&P 500 is currently down 52% from its high last October. From my perspective, this is even worse than the bear market from 2000 to 2002. There's been no where to hide this time around...even corporate bonds and municipals have been murdered.

I also have ownership stakes in two finance-related companies, one of which has dissolved and the other is toeing the line of survival.

Several friends and relatives have been victims of labor-cuts, and a number of business owner friends are in real trouble. Plants throughout the Midwest are closing on a regular basis.

The food/restaurant businesses here are extremely slow. Foreclosures are so extreme that its difficult to even quantify.

 

[D_Pubert Stabbingpain]

I work for a Bank (U.S. Bank/U.S. Bancorp) and its strange to watch the whole situation from within a company in the "center" of banking hell do so well.

On Friday we "saved" or acquired two new banks in SoCal (PFF & Downey), luckily for them (or their customers) we stepped to purchase them as federal regulators were closing the branches.

This is the third bank we purchased that we've kept from failing, and it appears that it won't be be the last... Don't be suprised if the banking industry turns into a "big few situation" after were out of this.

Weee!

Let's just hope that the $$ US Bancorp is using to acquire other banks is **not** the taxpayer $$ they are suppose to be using to make loans and jumpstart the economy! Problem is, that is exactly what the banks are doing. They are not using the handouts for what they were intended.

 

[D_Pubert Stabbingpain]

reallocated my portfolio before the downturn, so no impact there

otherwise, the local economy (Texas) is still booming

really haven't noticed anything personally -- still overspending

You must have reallocated into 100% Treasuries as everything else, including bonds, are down. I thought I was safe with 40% bonds but I wasn't. :frown1:

 

[eddyabs]

We felt the downturn this time last year, business was down 20-25% on a monthly basis. At the present time we are about 35% down on a monthly basis, we have had to lay off two members of staff, it's hard work as we now have a skeleton crew running the ship, fewer hands means more hard work, it is stressful. We're just going to try to ride this one out, hopefully in a couple of years.....

 

[D_Selmus_Swallow]

I work in a casino and business has been way off. They just axed a large cut of my co-workers and not a few friends out here:


Harrah's Casino cuts work force :: The SouthtownStar :: Business

Then again this is the Rust Belt. If you aren't used to this sort of thing by now and don't have a fair amount of weariness and pessimism about your economic survival, you either have not been living here for any stretch of the last 30 years, are in the upper 0.001% of the upper wealth bracket, or your parents are still buying you everything.

 

[B_Nick4444]

You must have reallocated into 100% Treasuries as everything else, including bonds, are down. I thought I was safe with 40% bonds but I wasn't. :frown1:

mostly into cash & cash equivalents (along with US Treasuries)

this is what alerted me to the possibility, and an article in Market Watch that explained the likelihood this referenced predictor wasn't working, was the likelihood that debt-derivatives were creating an artificial liquidity:


FDIC: FYI - What the Yield Curve Does (and Doesn’t) Tell Us

and a growing chorus of voices like:

Economic Dreams - Economic Nightmares: Massive Debt/Derivatives Correction Coming?



http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/yield-inversion-tight-spreads-tell/story.aspx?guid={6078FFE4-E284-4089-925F-7DE892CC1940}&dist=msr_15

"The strategist said that "sooner or later" some issuer will be forced into default. That should cause a reversal of confidence in corporate issuance and spreads then should widen, he predicted."

 

[Deno]

can't find a fool willing to hire me.

 

[Mr. Snakey]

can't find a fool willing to hire me.

Dont look at them as fools. They just dont know a good man when they see one. Something will come your way. Have faith.

 

[findfirefox]

Let's just hope that the $$ US Bancorp is using to acquire other banks is **not** the taxpayer $$ they are suppose to be using to make loans and jumpstart the economy! Problem is, that is exactly what the banks are doing. They are not using the handouts for what they were intended.

U.S. Bank obtained 6.6 billion under T.A.R.P. We have not changed our lending policies since that point in time. U.S. Bank has been and continues to be one of the most difficult banks to receive any form of lending from, in many aspects it's whats makes us so strong is because we weren't fans of the SubPrime, then again it does make the T.A.R.P. money a bit of waste if you were hoping we would just lend it out.

We haven't stopped lending, but we're still stringent.

On a second note, if U.S. Bank did not acquire those banks you would be footing the bill as tax payers because they were about to fall under the FDICs Coverage. Consider it saving the taxpayers about 13 billion dollars. :smile:

 

[MASSIVEPKGO_CHUCK]

Read my latest blog entry on this there, Earl; we're both feeling the heat of the government's acting like amatuer proctologists for the last three months.

 

[silvertriumph2]

Occasionally I volunteer at a soup kitchen and food bank, and today I spoke
with one of the directors to add my name to the volunteer list for Thanksgiving.

He told me that volunteering is up, but that they are experiencing about 40%
more daily guests than this time last year. He said that the contributions of
money and food (private, corporate, and government) are way below the amount
that has been received in past years.

They are really getting worried they might not be able to serve all those who
show up for food from the food bank, or for their daily meals. They are even more
worried that they will not have enough food for all that will arrive for their meal on
Thanksgiving since they have no idea how many to expect.

It is really becoming scary!