Things are looking up.

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Tue Nov 19, 2013 4:25 pm

Yes, there is certainly a "new" way of thinking throughout the U.S. and the world. I quoted "new" because it has taken several decades to get to this.

Remember when we used to think about the future in most decisions? Now days I'm sure there is absolutely NO worry about the future. There just isn't time. ---"I need to fix this issue now" type thinking.

Maybe this is something learned in business school. But, wherever the decision process came from it has caught on like wildfire. Everyone from banks to engineers get more money from solving immediate issues. They think if something bad happens next week (or future) we'll address that issue then.

Tisk, Tisk, It seems all work is done on an "as-needed" basis. In my opinion this is too bad for all of us.

davebodner · Post by **davebodner** » Tue Nov 19, 2013 5:59 pm

Ed in Tampa wrote:Watch this and tell me how well our economy is going.
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=Lvl5Gan69Wo

If that doesn't send a chill down your spine there is probably something wrong.

Of course GM is expanding in China. Buick is one of China's biggest brands (believe it or not). GM build cars in China the way VW, BMW, Toyota, et al, build cars in the US.

Here it is from another source: http://www.factcheck.org/2012/06/is-gm- ... na-motors/ Since that was written the Government has sold a lot more shares of GM. I think I read they're expected to completely sell out by the end of the year.

Ed in Tampa · Post by **Ed in Tampa** » Wed Nov 20, 2013 9:58 am

davebodner wrote:Of course GM is expanding in China. Buick is one of China's biggest brands (believe it or not). GM build cars in China the way VW, BMW, Toyota, et al, build cars in the US.

Here it is from another source: http://www.factcheck.org/2012/06/is-gm- ... na-motors/ Since that was written the Government has sold a lot more shares of GM. I think I read they're expected to completely sell out by the end of the year.

One big difference VW BMW TOYOTA et al are not communist sworn to destroy us.

Got any idea how many Nazi bombers or tanks were built in American Auto plants located in Germany before the war. If not you need to look it up.

Why do we always insist in arming our enemies??

joshh · Post by **joshh** » Wed Nov 20, 2013 11:39 am

Ed in Tampa wrote:Why do we always insist in arming our enemies??

Because our politicians are heavily invested in "defense" companies. I think the money they make from war is just under what they make in bribes (oh wait...I mean lobbyists)

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Wed Nov 20, 2013 2:22 pm

joshh wrote:Because our politicians are heavily invested in "defense" companies. I think the money they make from war is just under what they make in bribes (oh wait...I mean lobbyists)

I believe that our politicians (at least many of them) have benefited from inside information on all sorts of investments (not just defense contractors). I doubt that any of them leave office poorer than when they began their terms.

When I worked for a defense contractor (second career), I had to sign a disclosure statement on all of my income along with a pledge that I would not utilize information that I might acquire as a result of my position to my own financial advantage.

Congress should be held to those same standards.

Gene Howe · Post by **Gene Howe** » Wed Nov 20, 2013 5:14 pm

Things don't look to good according this labor statistic graph showing the labor participation rate over the last ten years.
It's going to get worse as small business employers begin laying off to get to under 50 to avoid the Obamacare penalties.
[ATTACH]23291[/ATTACH]

joshh · Post by **joshh** » Wed Nov 20, 2013 6:39 pm

Gene Howe wrote:Things don't look to good according this labor statistic graph showing the labor participation rate over the last ten years.
It's going to get worse as small business employers begin laying off to get to under 50 to avoid the Obamacare penalties.
[ATTACH]23291[/ATTACH]

That's more a result of the fact that regular workers make about 1/4 of what they did before the trickle down scam (aka the end of corporate responsibility). It's not worth working (for some) when welfare pays them about the same for not working. Screwed out of being able to support themselves by one side and shoved into the welfare system (and kept there) by the other side. Messed up huh?

After Korea, my grandpa supported a family of 5 comfortably with a job at Sears...not a manager...just a regular employee. He even did well enough that when 1968 rolled around, he paid cash for a new camaro. Try supporting yourself, let alone a family, with that job now. To support a family now it takes 2 incomes minimum and most folks I know work 2 jobs each (my wife and I included and we both have Bachelor of Science degrees). My father told me that when I was born he made $8.50/hr at a meat packing plant. Those employees make even less now 33 years later... Minimum wage now pays less than half the poverty line.

Ask anyone my generation what a pension is and you will get a blank stare. Very few companies see employees as more than garbage. Costco and the container store are 2 that take great care of employees, and I NEVER shop at Walmart. Sam Walton was a good man but his kids are pieces of...

I think this chart is more telling. You can tell when all the policy changes in the 80's and 90's started working their way into the way corporations operate. You can also see the manufactured recessions of 2001 and 2008 which always hit the poor and middle class.

wa2crk · Post by **wa2crk** » Wed Nov 20, 2013 9:09 pm

Dusty
You and I would go to jail for insider trading but members of Congress are exempt from those laws.
Bill V

davebodner · Post by **davebodner** » Wed Nov 20, 2013 9:22 pm

Gene Howe wrote:Things don't look to good according this labor statistic graph showing the labor participation rate over the last ten years.
It's going to get worse as small business employers begin laying off to get to under 50 to avoid the Obamacare penalties.
[ATTACH]23291[/ATTACH]

The baby boomers are retiring. So, even without the shenanigans Josh is talking about, we'd expect to see a decline in the labor force.

Ed in Tampa · Post by **Ed in Tampa** » Wed Nov 20, 2013 10:47 pm

The thing I don't understand and maybe some of the financial whizzes can explain it to me. At one time a company wanted money to operate and to raise the money they sold stock. If the company had a million dollars in assets they were able to sell a million dollars in stock and thus generate operating capital. If the company then used the million dollars and increased their assets to a million and a half every stock owner realized and 50% increase in stock. Thus the stock went up or down solely on the existing assets of the company. I think this is how it was or at least that is how I was taught

However today people buy stock in the companies that have little or no assets and people are betting that the stock will go higher. They are betting the company's stock will go up based on what other stock players think.
The whole thing is a huge house of cards. The stock has no real worth behind it and everyone is betting on the come. As long as everyone keeps buying and selling things increase but there is nothing of value behind the stock. I think that is how it is today or at least that is how it appears to me.

If this is correct then when someone says the Market has hit an all time high of 16,000 all they are really saying is gamblers have gambled the market that high but in fact there is nothing tangible behind it.

It is sort of like buying and selling a million dollar house that doesn't exist but the last guy holding the title refuses to admit it doesn't exist. And as long as everyone else goes along and pretends it exists they can keep buying and selling the place. Is that right?