Is the financial crisis affecting you?

[GenuineSpirit]

Maybe, when I send the kids down to the freezer to get something for dinner, There will only be Snus :shock:

[chainsnuser]

My center is currently operating at 70% of what it was bringing in this same time last year.

Very scary times :cry:

Indeed! The problem of the modern economy is that even operating at 90% would be a problem for most bigger companies. Many small firms work between 50% and 200% all the time, even without a global economic crisis and they simply save money for bad times, when they have the chance to do so and spend the savings, when orders decrease.

The modern shareholder-value-fixation, which means to redistribute all profits to the shareholders before building up reserves, or building up reserves only as much as necessary by law, is the real problem. Not to mention the shareholders who don't really act like they are shareholders of a company, they're not even interested in the single company's wellbeing, they just buy and sell (electronically) on a daily basis.

This is an old problem, BTW. The crisis of 1929 wasn't that different. And yet we don't have any laws, that force companies to build up enough reserves. Reserves would mean that employees would still have secure jobs and secure earnings (some companies really profit from a "hire-and-fire-system", regardless of the economic situation, but only a few). The actual situation, even in companies like yours, Xobeloot, companies that act really wise, only supports a further downward spiral of the economy.

In case you read this, Zero, I'm much more of a libertarian than you would think, but libertarism requires strict laws to really function. We don't need as much state interventions and subsidies as we have. Unfortunately most libertarian parties around the world are ruled by "freaks" and anarchists, who rather would like to live on trees like apes than to spend a single tax-Euro or -Dollar to help to build a functioning governmental and social framework. The current crisis is not a result of too little but of too much libartarism in that sense.

I'm personally not suffering (yet) to answer the original question.

Cheers!

[oouder]

Not suffering yet. Best of luck to those who are! hang in there it's gonna be a bumpy ride.

[Zero]

In case you read this, Zero, I'm much more of a libertarian than you would think, but libertarism requires strict laws to really function. We don't need as much state interventions and subsidies as we have. Unfortunately most libertarian parties around the world are ruled by "freaks" and anarchists, who rather would like to live on trees like apes than to spend a single tax-Euro or -Dollar to help to build a functioning governmental and social framework. The current crisis is not a result of too little but of too much libartarism in that sense.

I agree that there are strict laws which are needed, but I disagree with your assessment of the problem entirely. Every problem you have noted stems directly from the nature of the monetary system - all of the moral hazards disappear when you force 100% reserve banking and hard currency. That's a rule I agree needs to be strictly enforced, but not as a rule in and of itself, but simply the need for banks to follow the same laws as everyone else - to consider counterfeit to be illegal for everyone rather than granted as monopoly privilege to special institutions. Get rid of this one egregious problem and the rest will, I would argue (at great length if you want me to) disappear spontaneously.

The lack of savings, excessive risk taking, heavy indebtedness - all of this stems from moral hazards endemic to the system of centrally administered deposit insurance backed only by the power to counterfeit money at will and not by any sound fundamentals, as well as by the special granted privilege to banks to create money and lend beyond their capacity to repay as the de-jure way of doing business. I agree that we need rules, but until we correctly target the root causes rather than chase after symptoms in a reactionary and short-sighted way, nothing will ever be fixed.

[chainsnuser]

Zero, I agree widely. Though I don't think that a sustainable fiscal policy could solve all the problems of the world, it would indeed be a good step towards a better future. The problem is that I don't think that there is a way to force all nations to join in. The current system just works too good, with most of us profiting (in the short run at least). Just think about how most people lived, only two or three generations back.

The whole topic really is far too complicated for me to propose an easy solution. I only hope that I don't live long enough to witness what happens when the current basis of our currencies, our economy and our living in general (I mean the oil, of course) really becomes scarce or impossible to use because of acute environmental reasons. That will cause a real crisis.

Cheers!

[Skimo]

I just got laid off yesterday.

major loss of income.

[Maximus]

So initially I said no it wasn't affecting me much yet and obviously that was the wrong answer. We just had a meeting today and found out we have to get rid of 8 people. Either from voluntary seperation or involuntary based on reverse seniority.

Now, I'm 13 from the bottom so I won't get hit this round but we had seperation less than 4 months ago so I'm expecting that by the end of the year or within a year I will be affected if I don't get myself to a different department soon. The suck part is that 7 of the 8 people at the bottom I know very well and I am hoping some of the people with 30 plus years finally take the voluntary seperation but I know it won't get all 8.

Although I am not getting hit this round exactly it really awoke within me a drive to get the family on track with watching what we spend and really focusing on a plan for the next year so we aren't caught in a compromising position. I feel for all those that have been laid off recently on the forums and hope things turn around for all of you very soon.

One good thing recently with switching to snus is that I do have some income coming back into the family instead of being spent on cigarettes. I think however with today's news that I will over the next 6 months be doing a bit of stockpiling when I can.

[ddandb]

I can't help but worry.
Job, home, family, and all that seem fine, but when I see all these places that are closing or laying off it gives me pause.
Hasn't really affected my income except that my wife and I are trying to put more money aside... just in case.

[amorican]

I quit restaurant management in September with the intention of leaving the industry. I was out of work until this month, when I finally caved in and had to get back into the same industry with about a 50% pay cut.

I would say the economy is affecting me pretty badly right now.

[Thorsky]

Luckily I'm in a solid company that's still hiring and giving good raises. Unfortunately, my wife who made more than me was not. She's an Oracle DBA and jobs in that market are scarce around us. Been 14 months without work, so we've made major lifestyle changes. We'll get through, but a lot of our plans have been shelved for the immediate future.