truckjunkie

Looks like more layoffs comin' -

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...TO01/601220408

Herrin811

Boys, I'm about to pull all of my money out of the stock market


I got a bad feeling we're about to go in the tank, worse than it's been in a long time


theskyisfallingtheskyisfallingcrossingmyfingerswit hmyheadinthesand

Lary Ellis (Top)

And if a bunch of people do the same, we end up with a depression as we saw in the late 20's.

It is all about perceived strength thats what makes the markets move. Think good things and good things happen, think the sky is falling....and it will. Our money is nothing more than printed paper, it is the faith we place in it, that gives it value.

I for one see a much stronger economy in the future that is if we can keep the wacky lefty's out of office

Herrin811

You're exactly right, but I dont share your optimism

I think there are too many negative economic indicators, and world events happening right now to keep the markets postive

Dow 11,000 seems to be a glass ceiling....I just think we're about to see that massive sell-off....It's gonna hurt for a long time

westcoaster

What (little) I know is the usd is steadly losing ground to the canadian dollar. I tried to do a search to see if the trend was the same against other world curiencies but was unable to come up with anything.

this means two things, on the down side, the us will be paying more for it's imports. on the up side, the world will be able to better afford your exports

P.J

Market might be in for a wicked week. I know of two people who are looking to pull out just over $100,000 this week and neither are the nervous Nelly type. They started putting sell orders on Thursday, to stop the blood letting.
Certificate of Deposit rates here locally are right under 5% for a 6 month 1K min. That's pretty attractive to some people right now. Make 5% in 120 days, or take the chance of losing 10% (or more) in a few day's playing around with a potentially volitle market?

Luckily, I'm broke, so I can't lose any money that I don't have to invest in the market.

Our 401k's should take a beating though. My wife lost ~25% of her's in 2001.

Not sure how well the "righties" are doing at keeping a real economy going here, 2 more years to find out I guess.
National debt sure is a promising thing, getting larger every minute

MikeyB

What's the deal with Ford having layoffs the whole country is going down the tubes with it? I hope it's a wakeup call for Ford, and GM to build a better product and something that people would want to buy.

MikeyB

Scotty

Theres a Federal election up here as well...which can also have some effect on stocks, currencies and trade.

A friend of mine took a King Ranch out for a test drive as he is a Ford man.
The owner of the dealership is his friend. They made it 4 blocks before it started sputtering and died. The owner of the dealership was in the truck with him. This is an 06 that had 10,000 kilometers on it...driven by the owner.
Lets just say that more of the truth of their problems was shared at that time.
Its been towed three times already.

Scotty

TomW

It's not so much their product as it is their pension outlays each year. GM alone has the highest pension expenditure of any US corporation (over 6 BILLION per year).

While this week may be a rough one for Wall Street, I don't see any indication that the economy is going to tank anytime soon. It's actually doing quite well, despite what the MSM is constantly harping on.

Shovelhead

Instead of placing the entire blame on the folks who actually performed work for an agreed upon wage and benefit package, some of the finger pointing needs to be directed at the Fatcat "Guys with Ties" and their every increasing multi-million dollar wage, stock, retirement, separation, and bennies packages.

SoTexRattler

*** AMEN!!! ***

TomW

Now Ed.. I didn't blame the unions for putting GM into that position.

A 6 billion dollar expenditure is going to hurt. Especially when sales aren't keeping up with expenses. And if you look at in this light, 250 grand is a paultry drop in the bucket when you're talking 6 billion bucks. Notice this isn't million, it's BILLION. That boggles my mind. Can't even begin to wrap my head around that figure as a business expense.

P.J

MY GOD! Sound's like a common sense approach to me!

But, isn't easier to just sit back and say, "Hey, our hands are tied, we have "legacy" problems".

I could use you in some of my discussions with my father in law. Even if we agree that it is a 50/50 blame situation with Union and Management, people need to understand that when CEO's negotiate these contracts, 99% of the time they say "Oh well, we'll pass it on to the customer". (Same with local governments, they've been passing on thing's to the taxpayers for years now)

Well, those day's are over. The consumer is sick and tired of the Big 3's lack of quality and general appeal. If it weren't for Iacoca and now the Germans, Chrysler would be in the same boat as Ford and GM.
Look at the product lines for petes sake, what does GM produce that isn't heidous besides the GMC full size truck line?

One thing is for sure, NONE of those cars would be built without Labor down there on the floor busting their nuckles day in and day out. I am 90% posotive that they have been allowed to get away with waaaaay too much over the past 25 years. Are the jobs worth $30+ an hour? Probably not, but the general public is being led to believe that the "evil doers" at production level are 100% to blame and that's just not fair or true.

TomW

I'd never place the blame at the worker level, but rather place the blame a little higher up the food chain within the unions themselves. It's their short sightedness that creates these problems in the long run.

Shovelhead

It too bad the unions aren't as "short-sighted" as the G.W.T. in the Ivory Towers who negotiate themselves a multi-million dollar 'Golden Parachute' whether the company goes up like a rocket or tanks.