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Economy weakens further in sales, housing, credit, and jobs »

Posted by: MyWayOnNow 4 months, 3 weeks ago

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The country's economic health deteriorated further in the early spring as shoppers buckled under the strains of the housing and credit debacles and a weaker employment climate.

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Comments So Far: 42

KvilleTXComment removed: User banned.1 Reply
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  RichFatCat4 months, 3 weeks ago
  
  Played golf with two foursomes of my "competitors" today. We all agreed to raise our prices to our customers to reflect the increase in our transportation costs due to the rising cost of fuel. Instead of cutting each other's throats to see who could be "the last man standing", we agreed to cooperate for our mutual benefit. Since wholesale prices have risen, retail prices will rise, but none of us will fold and have to put any more people out of work. We're as lean today as we've ever been. There's enough market to support all of us. We'll weather this storm. We always do
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Cityslicker4 months, 3 weeks ago

What gets me is , the rise in gas prices has hurt everyone and is crippling the economy but yet the price keeps going up and up , like they are saying , "We can't figure out why the economy is so bad lets raise gas price again to see if that makes it better " .
Terrorist don't need planes or weapons anymore they just control the Energy sector Commodity Trading and hurt us more than physical attacks ever could .

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  jimdoze4 months, 3 weeks ago
  
  Petroleum prices wouldn't have anything to do with worldwide demand for petroleum now would they?
  
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    GHOSTWHOWALKS4 months, 3 weeks ago
    
    To some extent it does but doesn't deserve all the credit when one considers that you are buying gas with a dollar that isn't worth the paper it's printed on.
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      Teech4 months, 3 weeks ago
      
      The dollar index has fallen by 42% since 2002. Oil prices reflect this.
      Gold has risen dramatically since 2002. Oil has been on a parity with gold since 1939!
      Despite any fluctuation in demand, supply of petroleum CAN BE and IS carefully regulated.
      Merry Christmas! By December, 2008, oil will be ABOVE $200 per barrel! Gasoline? I wouldn't even venture to guess. I did pay $4.31/gal for diesel fuel today. Didn't buy much, and I'm using that truck VERY sparingly from now on!
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    Dionys4 months, 3 weeks ago
    
    "Petroleum prices wouldn't have anything to do with worldwide demand for petroleum now would they?"
    Look into why they're so high instead of making sarcastic comments based in ignorance. It's not unmanipulated supply and demand, that's for certain.
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      saintetienne4 months, 3 weeks ago
      
      O.K. tell us, Dionitwit..... why are petroleum prices so high?
      - - Hold on, let me adjust my tinfoil hat... there...
      O.K., I'm all ears. Why are petroleum prices so high?
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        UnusualSuspect4 months, 3 weeks ago
        
        Sainte...name-calling, again?
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        RichFatCat4 months, 3 weeks ago
        
        ........" why are petroleum prices so high?..."
        I guess we could bore everyone to death with the complicated economics of it. We could also refer you to sites that have tracked parity between grams of gold/barrel of oil.
        Common sense and one's own spending habits reveal that the price of anything we have ever bought depends on how much we want it, how badly we need it, or what is is REALLY worth to us.
        If one has ever FAILED to purchase something because it was "too expensive" then it really wasn't worth the price. The converse is true.
        Folks were convinced they'd sell homes at huge short term profits and borrowed accordingly. They risked all and got hit. Others used 0% credit card offers, overspent (since it was not REAL money) missed a payment and saw interest rates zoom to 34%, as agreed in the fine print.
        Gasoline? Diesel fuel? The price will rise until people STOP buying it. At 5,6,7 per gallon it will still be "worth" it.
        
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        saintetienne4 months, 3 weeks ago
        
        "Gasoline? Diesel fuel? The price will rise until people STOP buying it. At 5,6,7 per gallon it will still be "worth" it."
        Exactly right. And it'll still be worth it at 14, 15, 16 dollars per gallon. For as long as there are lunkheads who can't get out of their cars, or start their day without a six-dollar cup of latte, or stop caving in to their brats' demands for every cheap, lead-laced toy from China, there will be expensive gasoline to fill their demand.
        $4 a gallon for gas? That's highway robbery. We should be paying at LEAST $9 a gallon by now. Considering the cost of a 16-ounce mocha latte, $4 a gallon for gas is a steal.
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        quackpot4 months, 3 weeks ago
        
        I agree with you on that one, snt, and with the down turn of the economy those are exactly the choices that are being made by U.S. consumers.
        Alas, though, when people start making more rational purchasing decisions, the Wall Street tycoons become worried by the lowered spending and start yelling to the Fed to increase the money supply (thereby lowering interest rates and increasing spending again).
        Thus, Paulson (Secretary of the Treasury, and ex-Wall Street CEO) and the Fed pump a new $200 billion into circulation, which pleases Wall Street greatly (especially the $30 billion that is now lining the pockets of the J.P. Morgan folks) but trashes the idea of a more rational rate of consumer spending.
        Wonder why the dollar is slipping relative to the Euro and other currencies?
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        saintetienne4 months, 3 weeks ago
        
        And I agree with you - government should get OUT of the market and allow it to do what it's going to do. The Federal Reserve should be eliminated. It does nothing but cause problems and/or exacerbate existing ones. I don't care WHO is in the White House - Rep. or Dems., government needs to get their hands OFF the market.
        I disagree with you re: Wall Street tycoons. I'm sure very few people who work on Wall Street would welcome MORE government meddling in the economy. When more money is pumped into the economy, the economy slows, and the stock market heads south. What's more, it takes longer for a recovery from a recession.
        The problem is that everyone is looking for a quick fix to the economy, and it doesn't work that way. Everyone is just going to have to take their licks and ride out a recession and come out on the other end. Attempting to "stop" a recession - or "fix" it, will only make it longer and more deeply-seated.
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      libsRfunny4 months, 3 weeks ago
      
      "Look into why they're so high instead of making sarcastic comments based in ignorance. It's not unmanipulated supply and demand, that's for certain."
      Would help if certain members of our society would stop fighting expanded domestic oil exploration and drilling. Yes, OPEC has a strong control of the international market, but we get most of our oil from Canada.
      To say increased demand for oil in China and India has nothing to do higher gas prices in the U.S. is pure ignorance in itself.
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    Obaku4 months, 3 weeks ago
    
    They might, but the real problem is the dollar growing more worthless by the day.
    Try plotting the price of gasoline over the last 8 years - in gold, instead of dollars.
    Or in silver, instead of dollars.
    Or rice, or wheat, or corn, or soybeans, or iron ore.
    Quite a different picture.
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      quackpot4 months, 3 weeks ago
      
      --From about 1986 to 2004 the price of crude was nearly constant.
      --Since 2004 oil has increased by about 2.5-fold in terms of Euros but about 3.8-fold in terms of dollars.
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        Obaku4 months, 3 weeks ago
        
        Sad news - the euro is a fiat currency, just like the dollar.
        Try doing what I said, instead of living in denial.
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  saintetienne4 months, 3 weeks ago
  
  "Terrorists don't need planes or weapons anymore they just control the Energy sector Commodity Trading and hurt us more than physical attacks ever could"
  Hmmmm.... are you beginning to see why it's important that we keep our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, protect our interests and try to instill a modicum of rationality in a backwards, nutty, hostile region?
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    Dionys4 months, 3 weeks ago
    
    "Hmmmm.... are you beginning to see why it's important that we keep our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, protect our interests and try to instill a modicum of rationality in a backwards, nutty, hostile region? "
    Are you beginning to see the need for not being dependent on Oil? Oh I know you *are* being the saint of taking the bus, biking and encouraging your tens of thousands of employees to do the same..
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      Tcaros4 months, 3 weeks ago
      
      Bush is a very pious man. He met the pope at the airport. He is just now talking about protecting the environment.
      Give the man a chance. He only chose to break our laws 750 times during his presidency. He did this because he was only protecting you. Don't blame the war, the economy, the state of our nation on Bush. He's a very pious man.
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      CRYMTYPHON4 months, 3 weeks ago
      
      hmm.
      
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    Obaku4 months, 3 weeks ago
    
    Because without billions, and tens of billions, in new government debt the Fed won't be able to utterly destroy the U.S. economy and reduce 99% of the American people to servitude quickly enough?
    Face it, the U.S. of A. is now being run by the Fed in exactly the same way coal companies ran 'company towns' 100 years ago.
    And your company scrip is only good at the company store, and the company owns your house, and ...
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      jimdoze4 months, 3 weeks ago
      
      That sounds just like any country with a monetary and banking system.
      Taking it that further step that is, perhaps, implied here... I am glad to see that at least some of you are wanting to keep government out of the arena of ownership of your businesses, homes and out of the role of payroll provider and/or public nipple. Conservatism still has a chance.
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      - lovermanComment removed: User banned.2 Replies
        
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        saintetienne4 months, 3 weeks ago
        
        Nero's dead.
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        lovermanComment removed: User banned.
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      disraeli4 months, 3 weeks ago
      
      ...another day older and deeper in debt
      St. Peter don't you call me cause I can't go
      I owe my soul to the company store.
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jimdoze4 months, 3 weeks ago

You should welcome (or at least accept) petroleum prices to be high so as to encourage market-based migration away from carbon based energy sources, right?
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- lovermanComment removed: User banned.7 Replies
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    Will13134 months, 3 weeks ago
    
    Carter tried... even put solar panels on the white house.. one of the first things Reagan did was take them down.. and have Carter's energy package dismantled..
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      libsRfunny4 months, 3 weeks ago
      
      Carter? The Same president who ushered in the rare feat of double digit inflation AND unemployment? Yeah, he was such a great leader! LOL
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        Will13134 months, 3 weeks ago
        
        i never said he was.. but he at least had the vision of less dependence on OIL and especially on FOREIGN OIL...
        Inflation that was basically inherited and unemployment.. ending the Vietnam war.. caused a lot of people to be out of work..
        you certain LOL but couldn't dispute what the post was about...
        by the way i found your picture.....
        http://www.lifeisajoke.com/Pictures/head_up_ass...
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        Justice4All4 months, 3 weeks ago
        
        Yes, you are right, Carter had the beginning of a national energy policy. Reagan stopped it and today we are starting to pay the price. Remember Reaganomics? It's legacy lives on. The price of cheap oil in the late 80's is being paid today.
        Everyone should enjoy cheap oil while they can. I'm taking a long driving vacation this summer while gas is still cheap:)
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        lovermanComment removed: User banned.1 Reply
        
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        Justice4All4 months, 2 weeks ago
        
        I know it will be expensive, but 4 dollars will sound cheap in a few years. So I'll enjoy what's left of cheap gas.
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      - lovermanComment removed: User banned.
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  saintetienne4 months, 3 weeks ago
  
  jim, you should know by now that Libs are never happy. With ANYthing.
  -They whine if the price of oil is cheap (people would be wasteful and the planet would be harmed).
  -They whine when prices of oil go up.
  -They whine when we want to drill in the U.S. (it's not "environmentally-friendly")
  -They whine when we're forced to buy oil overseas.
  -They whine that biofuel production does more harm than good.
  I hear lots of whining, but I see precious little action on their part to walk, ride a bike, take the bus, take a subway, carpool or telecommute.
  They whine that the government, the oil companies, big business, their neighbor, Martha Stewart, ANYBODY... needs to do something about it. Anybody but them, that is.
  The Liberal Credo:
  "SOMEbody, SOMEwhere.... SAVE US from OURSELVES!!!! Because I can't make changes in my own life, I need SOMEONE to DO IT FOR ME! WAAAHHHHHH!!!!"
  
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    quackpot4 months, 3 weeks ago
    
    For the past 30 years attempts to promote reduced consumption have been overturned first by Regan, who overturned the efforts of Carter, then Bush 1 and now by Bush 2. During Clinton the price of oil was low and stable so only modest attempts were realistic.
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      saintetienne4 months, 3 weeks ago
      
      "For the past 30 years attempts to promote reduced consumption have been overturned"
      Why do you need the government to tell you to reduce consumption? JUST DO IT!!!!!! For GOD SAKE, LIVE YOUR OWN LIFE and take some PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY, instead of waiting around and being instructed to do so by the government.
      Does the government inform every decision you make? Every choice you make in a day, cracksnot - is that the government's responsibility to oversee?
      "The government isn't promoting reduced consumption, so I guess I'm not going to do it....." Do you realize how STUPID that sounds? And you, cracksnot, call yourself a liberal and an activist. I see very little liberating thought and very, VERY little activism coming from you nutty lefties. If you were truly active, you all would have banded together, gotten out of your cars and made the oil companies EAT their oil by now.
      But that would require effort on your part....
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        quackpot4 months, 3 weeks ago
        
        You confuse the actions of individuals, and there are many individuals that take the actions that you suggest, with how changes in public policy (such as tax rates, research priorities and other common laws) can influence the actions of many.
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    UnusualSuspect4 months, 3 weeks ago
    
    I also see people here call other people names because they don't have respect for others' opinions...or they don't understand what the other person said in the first place...
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HanymanComment removed: User banned.