Things have been pretty good for us. In fact, this is the best year we've ever had in almost 12 years in business. I will have to say that the last 18 months have been unbelievably good.

Depends on what sector you are in and how diverse you are in your product/service lines. So long as taxes remain the same, I'm golden. Would like to see interest rates rise to double digits though. Would make sense to save money again in a bank. My MM is making 1.6%. Compared with the rate of inflation, it costs me money to put money in a bank.

Its ridiculous. If the government would stop phucking with things and stop bailing people out we'd all be a lot better off in the end.

 

The way things are turning out and the way the government is trying to bail out the big players, I'm wondering if this crisis was not part of a plan.

 

In the US labor unions controls much of the liberal crowd in Washington. That said, the bailouts are for the unions, not the businesses themselves.

If anything, the UAW should be appearing before congress today, not just the CEO's of the big three.

Chapter 11 is the only way to go. We don't (I don't) have any more money to give to people that earn more than me, yet have 1/5th the education.

 

I was 27 years with the same company (bought out twice) until a week ago Friday. President and 3 Directors let go plus more to follow. Mandated cost cuts from corporate Switzerland!

 

How are things in the U.S.?

Probably two of the most significant events in my lifetime have been the Kennedy assassination and 9.11. I unfortunately predict that this extended recession will be worse and more painful.

The liberals just pulled off the biggest October surprise in history, which has resulted in President "Share the Wealth". They were able to help cause the economic crisis by armtwisting mortgage lenders into growing the risky subprime mortgage business. They even insisted there was no problem at Fanny & Freddy. When it came crashing down, they were able to pin it on Bush & Cheney.

So now we have a crisis caused in large part by the U.S. Government. And guess who is now in charge of dispersing the zillions of bailout money?! Do you think there is a chance we may not get our money's worth?!!

We just had 63M hopefully alive and legal American citizens vote for a new administration to fix these problems. God help us, for these folks have a record of raising taxes, not to mention their record as appeasers around the world.

Mia- Sorry, the chances of your taxes remaining the same are ZERO! The liberals will let the Bush Tax Cuts expire and raise taxes on small businesses. With increases in taxes plus tighter credit, it will be difficult for small businesses to expand.

Let's talk energy: Let's face it, the liberals talk big about alternative sources of energy, but NOTHING COMES CLOSE to replacing oil in the near future. Therefore, it is stupid and suicidal NOT TO DRILL for oil and once and for all break the dependence on foreign oil. Oil prices and gasoline prices are down right now, but already OPEC has cut production again, which will result in higher prices in the near future.

The only way to break this ever growing dependence on government is to elect conservative leaders who will truly represent the people, fight to preserve individual liberties, and limit the size of government. Reagan once said that government is not the solution, but part of the problem. We are paying and will continue to pay enormously for a bloated federal government.

Rickman

 

Where were you when the GOP was hiring speech writers this summer?

 

I believe that things will get worse in the US before we begin to see any imptovement.
1) THE BAILOUTS – This money is being given to banks to help them survive and in the HOPE that they will lend it out. Why would they? They are not confident that they can properly assess the risks of the loan under the current turbulent conditions AND interest rates as set by the FED give them almost no return on these loans. They are doing the same thing as other consumers – bunkering down, reducing expenses (laying off people and closing facilities) and waiting for things to settle down.. Maybe the FED, having recapitalized the banks, should raise interest rates to incentivize banks to resume lending?
2) WASHINGTON SPENDING – This crisis has added $3.4 Trillion in fresh liabilities to the US debt ($700 billion bailout plus Fannie & Freddie MAC plus AIG) over and above the rapidly growing (as tax revenues fall) deficit. The FED is borrowing over $500 billion just in the 4th quarter to finance this. To continue to attract buyers for this continuing massive sale, the FED will have to raise interest rates to make these bonds more attractive The effect of this is twofold; a) In the short term general interest rates will rise, whatever efforts the FED may make tokeep them low, and 2) As some economic activity resumes, these bonds will be used as colatteral for loans, increasing the overall supply of money. This is another way of saying inflation. Lenders will add this inflation rate on top of the market interest rate and borrowers who choose to borrow will pay very high rates (Does anyone remember the 70’s stagflation where 19 to 21% mortgage rates – if you could get a mortgage at all - were common.)

At this point, if the FED does EVERYTHING right, we are looking at several years of crap. More probably, we are looking at a decade until reasonably good times return.