Sadly, with the Obama economy. Your work is slow, and so also is everyone else. We're circling the drain. Someone grab onto -- oh, no! That's the flush handle we just grabbed.
Over the past 2 years we have gone from a small but busy shop, with 7 employees to a very quiet shop with only 1 tradesman & 1 apprentice.
The business owners have only been earning minimum wage from the place over the last 14 months, but still putting over 60 hrs per week.
There is still work around for us, but other fabricators in the game are doing the work for ridiculously low prices. I guess they must be doing the work just for turnover value, to keep the wolves (financiers?) at bay, as many of them have much bigger operations than us and surely have much greater overheads. We have no debts & very small overheads.
My old saying is that I would rather go broke at the beach or something, other than busting a gut doing steel fabrication for nothing.
Only time will tell is we are still here by the end of the year if things don't improve...
The way govt. spending is going here I don't think earning a dollar in the future will be worth it, due to the insane taxes we will be paying to service the govt. debt so I am thinking of just getting a regular job to cover living expenses and stuff the lot of 'em till the dust settles over the next 10-15 years.
I have been in this game 26 years, and have never seen it this bad...
I normally do CNC repair as an independant service guy..been doing it for 13 yrs, with a side of machine rebuilding and light welding.
I live in California, #3 worst hit of the American states. On paper..we have about 16% unemployment..but off paper..its close to 32% with all the people that have used up all their unemployment.
Some of my shops are doing fairly well...because they got the few jobs that 15-18 of my shops that went out of business were doing. Ive got another 12-14 that like yours...were running 15-30 employees..and are now down to 2-3..working 4 days a week. And the shops that are doing well..are running their machines slowly..trying to make em last a long time between service/breakdowns.
I used to make 5-10 service calls per week. I made 1 last week, and it was 3 weeks before that, that Id had one.
Fortunately the homestead is paid off..but power, food and whatnot still adds up and Ive been trying to sell off surplus tools, tooling, machinery and doing a bit of side order welding and machining for the oil field guys who still have jobs.
Its not good out here..and its going to get far worse. I planted a good size garden over the last month..with luck it will help supplant food costs. I just wish I could find a dog food tree....I do animal rescue..and feeding 10 full sized dogs hurts...shrug
The panic is over. But for how long? By Paul R. La Monica, editor at large May 10, 2010: 7:23 PM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The stock market is doing its best Timex impersonation. It took a licking last week but it keeps on ticking.
Thanks to a brutal four-day sell-off, the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all gave up their gains for 2010. But investors were giddily bidding up stocks again Monday on the news of a $1 trillion bailout package for Europe.
The Dow shot up more than 400 points, or nearly 4%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were each trading more than 4% higher. So was last week's market slide the shortest "correction" in history or is there more downside ahead once the Europe euphoria subsides?
Some experts think Monday's manic market move (isn't alliteration fun?) is merely a relief rally and that stocks could head lower again before long.
Peter Sorrentino, senior portfolio manager with Huntington Asset Advisors in Cincinnati, said that the latest news about Europe is a good sign but it does not mean that the problems with Greece and the other debt-laden PIIGS nations are over.
He said the market was due for a sell-off since investors had mostly been shrugging off fears about Europe until last week.
"People had gotten too complacent. There are still some issues that need to be worked out," Sorrentino said.
While it's reassuring that investors seem to be less freaked out about stocks after Thursday's mini-crash that sent the Dow down nearly 1,000 points in a matter of minutes, last week's sell-off shouldn't be now dismissed as a mere overreaction to a computer trading glitch or "fat finger" human error.
It's important to remember that stocks were heading for an off week before the Thursday meltdown.
Daniel Alpert, managing director with investment bank Westwood Capital in New York, said that investors may be using the Europe debt woes as an excuse to sell -- and with good reason. The market has enjoyed heady gains from the lows of March 2009 and too much optimism may have been baked into stock prices.
"The market was frothy and it remains to be seen whether the froth will come back," he said. "I don't believe the sell-off happened specifically because of the euro crisis. Greek default fears have been playing out for months." Who's leading Monday's market charge?
Alpert also pointed to figures about U.S. personal spending and income for April released by the government last week as a worrisome sign. The savings rate dipped for the third straight month and the increase in consumption outpaced the increase in income. That trend can't continue forever.
"There are worries about the sustainability of the recovery in the U.S. People are dipping back into savings to finance spending and that's upsetting," he said.
Jason Pride, director of investment strategy for Glenmede, a Philadelphia-based asset management firm, agreed that investors need to be concerned about a renewed love affair with debt.
He said that the latest bailout package for Greece and Europe, for example, can only work if countries and individuals make a concerted effort to cut back spending. And it's something that people in the U.S. need to do as well.
"The bailout may have staved off the crisis but it doesn't necessarily fix the longer-term problem," he said. "The reason the countries in Europe had all this debt is because people had gotten into a spend-thrift mode. Governments as a whole, including the U.S., have to do a lot more belt tightening."
So what does that ultimately mean for investors? Haag Sherman, managing director with Salient Partners, an investment firm based in Houston, said that investors will probably begin to fret about sovereign debt problems again soon. With that in mind, he thinks bonds are a better bet in the short run.
"The U.S. may be considered a safe haven and the dollar could rally again. That could be good for U.S. Treasurys but won't be good for stocks," he said.
But fortunately, it does not appear as if the market (or economy for that matter) is at serious risk of spiraling into another incredibly painful stretch along the lines of late 2008 and early 2009.
Sorrentino said he thinks the sense of panic that was evident last week has passed and that it's time to take a deep breath. "We're not out of the woods yet but we're not heading off a cliff," he said.
But that doesn't mean that the economy is all of a sudden healthy again. Pride thinks investors now have to adjust their expectations for what is likely to be a slow, gradual recovery that will play out over years, not months. And it will probably be an uneven recovery, not a straight line up.
"People need to invest for moderate returns and more volatility going forward. It may be a period of fiscal restraint and it's going to be tough and choppy," Pride said.
what is likely to be a slow, gradual recovery that will play out over years, not months. And it will probably be an uneven recovery, not a straight line up.
what is likely to be a slow, gradual recovery that will play out over years, not months. And it will probably be an uneven recovery, not a straight line up.
what is likely to be a slow, gradual recovery that will play out over years, not months. And it will probably be an uneven recovery, not a straight line up.
what is likely to be a slow, gradual recovery that will play out over years, not months. And it will probably be an uneven recovery, not a straight line up.
what is likely to be a slow, gradual recovery that will play out over years, not months. And it will probably be an uneven recovery, not a straight line up. what is likely to be a slow, gradual recovery that will play out over years, not months. And it will probably be an uneven recovery, not a straight line up.
Years...that far far too many people simply dont have.
LONDON ? A strong set of U.S. jobs data Friday failed to shore up confidence in world markets following days of extreme volatility amid mounting fears that Europe's debt crisis could spread and derail the global economic recovery.
In Britain, where investors were grappling with uncertain general election results, the FTSE 100 index was down 108.48 points, or 2.1 percent, at 5,152.51, while the pound oscillated wildly.
Germany's DAX fell 105.24 points, or 1.8 percent, at 5,800.02 while the CAC-40 in France was 79.91 points, or 2.3 percent, lower at 3,476.20.
And on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 59.85 points, or 0.6 percent, at 10,460.47 soon after the open while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 11.04 points, or 1,117.11.
There had been hopes that Wall Street would open higher after strong U.S. jobs data helped push other concerns, primarily centered on Europe's debt crisis, aside for a while.
Figures from the U.S. Labor Department showed that employers expanded payrolls by 290,000. That's the most in four years and more than the
200,000 anticipated. However, the jobless rate rose to 9.9 percent from
9.7 percent, mainly because 805,000 jobseekers ? perhaps feeling better about their prospects ? resumed their searches for work.
Though the data showed the U.S. economy started the second quarter of the year robustly, economists warned that the debt crisis, among other issues, could change everything.
"There are still major risks to the global economy from the sovereign debt crisis in the eurozone and high unemployment acting as a drag on consumer spending in the U.S.," said Charles Davis, senior economist at the Centre for Economic and Business Research.
Davis also said that there was a risk that the U.S. Federal Reserve may start to raise interest rates earlier than planned, possibly as soon as the third quarter of 2010, if the jobs outlook continues to improve ? the threat higher borrowing costs causes jitters in the markets.
Friday's stock market declines come a day after dramatic events on Wall Street, when a trading error had pushed the Dow Jones industrial average down 1,000 points at one stage, though it did recover to end "only"
347.8 points lower.
The primary focus in the markets though remains on whether the trouble in the eurozone will spread from Greece.
Many economists say Greece may be insolvent in the end despite an EU-IMF bailout, and there are fears that other countries will face bond market skepticism ? and higher borrowing costs that will worsen their finances in a vicious spiral. That could undermine markets and consumer confidence just as Europe crawls out of recession.
Finance ministers from the Group of Seven nations are holding a teleconference to discuss the situation, Japan's finance minister Naoto Kan said.
Stock markets weren't alone in seeing massive swings ? in the currency markets, the dollar was down a massive 6 yen at 88.68 yen one stage, while the euro dropped to $1.2520, its lowest level in 14 months. The retreats were reversed though and the dollar was trading 0.8 percent higher on the day at 91.49 yen while the euro was up 0.2 percent at $1.2658.
"Contagion has smashed risk appetite and created panic while a 'fat finger' glitch has created mayhem in equities," said Neil Mackinnon, global macro strategist at VTB Capital.
"Caution remains the watchword especially in front of the G7 conference call where markets will be wary of support/intervention action," said Mackinnon.
As if all that wasn't enough, investors, particularly in London, had to grapple with the inconclusive outcome of the British general election.
With the counting of the votes coming to an end, it's clear than no party has won enough seats to control Parliament. Without an overall winner, the parties are assessing the situation to see if any alliances can be concluded or whether the Conservative Party, which won the most seats and votes, will go it alone.
The uncertainty ? markets don't like uncertainty ? was most evident in the currency markets where the pound tumbled 1.8 percent to a year low of $1.4481 at one stage before recovering somewhat to be trading 0.5 percent lower on the day at $1.4678.
Across Asia, stocks were hit hard even though the government debt crisis is centered on Europe ? all the main indexes ended lower with Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand and New Zealand down sharply. China's Shanghai Composite Index closed 1.9 percent lower while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index ended around 1.1 percent down.
The most dramatic retreat was seen on Japan's benchmark Nikkei index, which closed 3.1 percent down at 10,364.59
"Financial markets have begun to over-run policymakers' ability to implement measures to stem the crisis," said Sean Darby, a strategist with Nomura in Hong Kong. "A strong dollar and the flight to quality mean that Asian equities have also been drawn into the contagion."
Oil markets were also oscillating wildly ? benchmark crude for June delivery was down 28 cents to $77.83 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That modest rise follows the $2.86 slide on Thursday.
Associated Press Writer Alex Kennedy in Singapore contributed to this report.
You are completely confused, I have to say, unlike in metal related matters. You cited a bunch of unrelated articles. One says that "doubts remain about the future". Another says that treasuries are holding up and treasury bond put options are falling (what does that have to do with anything?). Yet one more says that possibly more stock market panics are coming and cites two dummies who represent themselves as "financial advisors" who are making forecasts about near term stock market moves.
Stock market is an anticipation machine. It tries to anticipate the future, rather than follow past news. It follows, therefore, that it moves before a recovery becomes certain.
The "Obama recovery" in stock market has already occurred over last 14 months, and now stock prices already reflect an outlook for reasonable profits and economic performance. The increase in stock prices of about 70% reflect the realization that the fear of Armageddon was unfounded and anticipation of a recovery to occur in the future.
The market rallied in anticipation of economic recovery, during the time when conomy was declining. This is relatively normal.
Thus, those who wait for economic recovery to materialize before investing, and scary news to go away, miss out all the action that occurs before that.
The future is never clear. Even if one could predict what the economy will do, I could not still predict what the stock market will do.
The economic recovery that I mentioned, is a fact based in reality of latest manufacturing and employment data, and not some junk stockmarket commentary or any kind of forecast.
Stockmarket commentary is 99% distraction and is best avoided altogether. I personally make a point to never listen to any TV prognosticators.
``the U.S. economy started the second quarter of the year robustly,'' is exactly the point that I was making. The rest is usual stock market prognostication bullshit intended to shore up show ratings.
I do not know when, but it is growing now. In any case, my comment about the recovery that is occurring now, is based on several past months' data and not on forecasts. My guess about the future, which is as good as anyone else's, is 2012, on inflation adjusted basis.
Unlike most market commenters, I was 90+% in stocks a year ago.
On Mon, 10 May 2010 18:51:22 -0500, Ignoramus20711 wrote the following:
I'll show you mine if you show me yours.
formatting link
-- You will find that the mere resolve not to be useless, and the honest desire to help other people, will, in the quickest and delicatest ways, improve yourself. -- John Ruskin
The last one I went to was today, but factories were failing in 2007 too. The difference between this latest auction, and sales a few months ago, was that the prices for used machinery were much higher than I became used to. Example, a Haas S5C collet indexer sold for $1,500 plus auctioneer's fee. It is useful in making money and manufacturers are buying that stuff on the used market like crazy.
The auction prices shot up about two months ago, and this is when I realized that recovery was under way.
Manufacturing output has been rising since last September Ig and currently exceeds 2007 or 2008 levels. That has been the case since 1987 with the exception of three brief periods. One in 90/91 another in 2000/2001 and 2008/2009. Even those declines were not very deep.
What has really happened is that unskilled manufacturing jobs - the sort of thing Gunner or the stuff he pawns off are affected by - has been in decline for two decades. That will continue so for Gunner, the answer is never, unless he's willing to educate himself to the point where he has aquired useful skills.
California is SLAMMED right now with aerospace work. I talked to a friend with a business in Chicago (Mt Morris and Des Plains actually) today and he says things have been very strong so far this year. He actually said "going crazy" and he and I have both been around a long time. The same is true in Missouri. People have been picking up for the last eight months.
As well as mining, longshoreman, railway workers and whatever the oil and gas industry has. IBEW is an excellent example of a union that will persist. They provide a real benefit not just to their members but to their industry in general.
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