Back to the Mattress II: Now with less penny counting

[nacho]

The old thread:
http://www.greatsociety.org/forums/index.php?topic=2557.0

is both getting long and is annoying because it's full of updates on the .0000016% change of people's retirement accounts.

I really just wanted to track the quiet downfall of the US economy and, now that we're  working with a third world currency and the Canadians are laughing at us, I thought I'd start a new thread.  Today's news:

DETROIT (AP) -- Chrysler LLC said Thursday it plans to cut up to 12,000 jobs, or up to 15 percent of its workforce, as part of an effort to slash costs and match slowing demand for some vehicles.

The automaker will cut 8,500 to 10,000 hourly jobs and 2,100 salaried jobs through 2008. The company already had begun cutting 1,100 temporary workers Wednesday. It will eliminate shifts at five North American assembly plants and cut four vehicle models from its lineup.

The cuts come in addition to the 13,000 layoffs Chrysler announced in February as part of a massive restructuring plan. Those cuts included 11,000 production jobs and 2,000 salaried jobs. The new round of cuts was expected to involve buyouts or early retirement packages similar to those made in February.

Chrysler officials said falling demand for vehicles in the U.S. market made the cuts necessary. Chrysler's sales were down 3 percent in the first nine months of this year, according to Autodata, and the company said it expects sluggish sales to continue in 2008

Stocks are, in reply, falling dramatically.  However, in the midst of this collapse, Exxon yet again reports a nine billion dollar profit... Come on, folks.  When are we going to turn on these fuckers?

[Tatertots]

It looks like the fall is only hitting the tech sector lightly. Google's up 5 (which is only 0.65%, anyways), actually. INDU and COMPX are above or at the same level we were on the 26th, so this is really just a small bump.

It's been doom and gloom for months but somehow I'm getting wildly rich.

And now that I've said that, tech stocks are going to tank and I'm going to slit my wrists.

[nacho]

Yeah, the doom and gloom does feel somewhat fabricated.  Just as many folks say this is, simply, an adjustment.

[Tatertots]

Even though it's fabricated, it always makes me a bit nervous. I mean, having so much in a single stock is a bit scary. I'm on a little tightrope with 200-pound chimps on both ends.

In the end, though, what does it matter? I'm educated in an economy that, in general, rewards intelligence and persistence. And if the economy collapses, so what? I live out my fantasy of living in post-communist Russia, hacking into foreign governments with my taped-together computers balanced on my dirty vodka glasses.

[RottingCorpse]

So if I'm already broke, does none of this effect me?

[Tatertots]

Except when the bottom falls out and no one goes to the movies anymore!

I mean. Uh.

[RottingCorpse]

Oh, that's the future.  I mean now.

I don't own stocks, bonds, or anything like that and I'm dead broke with some debt that I make the monthly payments on and forget about for thirty days. Does this shit really effect me?

[nacho]

Except when the bottom falls out and no one goes to the movies anymore!

I mean. Uh.

That's one thing everyone will go to.  A Depression would be a godsend for RC...and for me!  War and Entertainment, the only true commodities.

And, RC, the answer is that you have nothing to worry about.  Tyson's the one who gets to watch the end of the world when Apple collapses and an EMP blast wipes out his accounts.

[RottingCorpse]

Wow, I guess there is something to living from paycheck to paycheck.

[nacho]

Wow, I guess there is something to living from paycheck to paycheck.

As long as you don't travel and don't mind living on the street when you're in your 80's.

[RottingCorpse]

I'll bag groceries when I'm 80.

[nacho]

I'm planning on suicide by cop.

[monkey!]

Stupid money.

[nacho]

Tough couple of days... Europe, Asia, the US, all tumbling hard... GM's record loss making the news.  The poor dollar continues to fall:

The dollar fell to its lowest level against the Canadian dollar since 1950, the British pound since 1981, and the Swiss franc since 1995.

And then there's housing's woes.  Exciting times!

[RottingCorpse]

My sister is in the mortgage business and she cries weekly.