[design219]

This mornings staff meeting brought a little unsettling news. For the first time in 20 years, we (the company I work for) are running a little low on clients. I'm not worried about my job (at this point) but it is just a little alarming.

Anybody else personally noticing negative effects from this economy?

[Oisín]

Personally, no, not really. But 14 people (in an organisation of about 350 all in all) were fired at work a few weeks ago.

[osiris]

Not really, but a few friends are.

[ort888]

Yes. I work for an ad agency that specializes almost entirely on the flooring industry. The flooring industry is heavily tied to the housing market which is completely f***ed. All of the companies we do work for are completely hosed. We're still making money, but it's very scary. Their sales are down like 70% from 2 or 3 years ago. We do have the safety net of being super cheap... so we have actually picked up a few clients who jumped ship from more expensive agencies... but if this keeps up for a few more years, I think we're all out of a job.

We've had layoffs and are currently in a company-wide wage freeze.

My wife works for a construction company that does steel work. They had been rolling along like gangbusters until the economy caught up with them. Suddenly (practically overnight) all of the work kind of dried up and they went from having dozens of jobs to about three. Also a few of the big jobs they had been working on (the biggest being a huge job renovating a mall) ended up with the companies going bankrupt and being unable to pay.

Good times.

[Laminar]

I'm graduating and looking for a job right now, which is a bit tough since many companies are being cautious about bringing on new hires. Besides that, I'm loving the cheap gas right now.

[Oisín]

My wife works for a construction company that does steel work. They had been rolling along like gangbusters until the economy caught up with them. Suddenly (practically overnight) all of the work kind of dried up

Same situation where I work (emergency call centre for travel insurances): all of a sudden, nobody’s going anywhere, so we went from super-duper headway with more and more cases—so much so that we could barely hire enough people to keep up—to suddenly sitting around twiddling our thumbs because we’re too many people with not enough work passing through; hence, firings.

[Dakar V]

There's a nice feeling of unease at work. Apparently the first casualty was given a "lay-off" Friday.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by Dakar V 

There's a nice feeling of unease at work. Apparently the first casualty was given a "lay-off" Friday.

And it wasn't you? How could someone actually spend less time working than you appear to??

[Dakar V]

Life's full of small mysteries.

[osiris]

Originally Posted by Dakar V 

Life's full of small mysteries.

Yes, some smaller than others.

[real]

Originally Posted by design219 

This mornings staff meeting brought a little unsettling news. For the first time in 20 years, we (the company I work for) are running a little low on clients. I'm not worried about my job (at this point) but it is just a little alarming.

Anybody else personally noticing negative effects from this economy?

I'm in the same boat,

[Proudest Monkey]

my job is directly related to the construction industry - i work for the government and building permits pay my salary. needless to say, permits are down a lot, new construction has dried up and i was hired to help accomodate all the growth. unfortunately, government moves so slow by the time i was hired (2 years ago), all the construction was beginning to dry up.

the problems my wife and i are experiencing are; no bank will consolidate my student loans (instead of 1 payment for $300, i have 12 minimums of $50) and we can't sell our home which is 40 miles from my job. we did the "right" thing and bought a house 3 years ago. oops.

anyone know of a bank taking student loan consolidations?

[olePigeon]

Some of my friends are, as well as my dad. For me, it's actually been pretty awesome. I'm taking advantage of next year's super low APR for mortgages (4.5%) to buy my first house in the Bay Area for roughly %50 less than they were a year ago.

I'll actually own a house in the Bay Area, something I never thought possible when just a year ago the median price for a 3 bedroom single family common-wall town house was $700,000.

[osiris]

Talk about timing, my dentist just implemented a four day work week for a staff of 8.
"Either I lay off two workers outright, or spread the pain this way."

[ghporter]

I have discovered the one shining "good thing" about a ('scuse me but bend over 'cause here it comes again) military retirement: my retirement pay isn't a "pension" but rather "deferred compensation" which doesn't change due to the economy, just due to Congress. In other words, while I'm not making tons of money, at least I don't have to worry about my income because of problems with the economy. I'm still getting something like 1/3 of my final pay, adjusted a little for inflation.

Sorry I can't help with the loan consolidation thing, but I only ever had one student loan and it took forever to pay that puppy off. Same with my wife and her loan.

[andi*pandi]

we're doing ok, they made a point of reassuring us and we still got our regular (small) christmas bonus. However, there were murmurings about the future of ad revenue if big pharma gets hit hard and stops advertising with us.

[Proudest Monkey]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

Sorry I can't help with the loan consolidation thing, but I only ever had one student loan and it took forever to pay that puppy off. Same with my wife and her loan.

I don't completely understand the process - each loan is handled by either Great Lakes Higher Learning or Sallie Mae, they are all federal loans (Stafford, SELF, etc), some have starting to file in (graduated on Saturday with my M.A.) but they ALL hit by February, so I need to figure something out. All I keep hearing from banks, including big banks like Wells Fargo, is they no longer consolidate any students loans. The problem is each loan individually is 3.x% and if I consolidate as a personal loan that jumps to 10% but solves my 12 different payments problem. Hmm....

Maybe I'll get laid off, go back for a Ph.D., put the loans on hold, and become a Prof. We'll see.

All that being said - I'm cutting back a little, but we still have to live our lives.

[turtle777]

Yes, no merit increase for 2009, and as a new company policy, no more business class travel, not even on long haul on international routes.

Can't wait to travel to Asia in economy class next year

-t

[Atheist]

I've been feeling it since the dot com bubble burst in 2000. Haven't had a salary increase since then. As a matter of fact, I've been making around 50K/yr less than I was in 2000. Right now 2009 is looking to be rough. I've only got work scheduled for then next 3 months or so.

I'm very concerned about my siblings in Detroit. They are all working either directly or indirectly for the auto companies (they're all in IT and Engineering). My father is retired from Ford (worked in IT at their HQ)... he's got a small pension and medical benefits that I'm afraid he's going to lose any day now. Rather bleak outlook for all of them.

[Chuckit]

My hours got cut a little bit at the main place I work. It's all right by me, because that just gives me more time to do other things. I'd really prefer to make teaching and freelancing a bigger part of my workload anyway.

[Proudest Monkey]

Originally Posted by Atheist 

I've been feeling it since the dot com bubble burst in 2000. Haven't had a salary increase since then. As a matter of fact, I've been making around 50K/yr less than I was in 2000. Right now 2009 is looking to be rough. I've only got work scheduled for then next 3 months or so.

I'm very concerned about my siblings in Detroit. They are all working either directly or indirectly for the auto companies (they're all in IT and Engineering). My father is retired from Ford (worked in IT at their HQ)... he's got a small pension and medical benefits that I'm afraid he's going to lose any day now. Rather bleak outlook for all of them.

Similarly I have some friends I fear may see some cuts that work for large companies here (MN) dependent on consumers ability to spend freely (Best Buy, Target, General Mills, even 3M - everyone needs scotch tape!) but I do know the Ford plant here that produces Rangers is shutting down very soon. They've delayed and delayed it but it's inevitable.

[Jawbone54]

Luckily my area hasn't really been hit (so far); the local economy is still pretty strong. GM has a huge plant about 40 miles from here though, so some people I know might be affected very soon.

My brother works for a supplier for GM. He's a manager at a plant that puts together special packages on GMC trucks. His plant will likely be shut down sometime next year, and he's freaking out. He owns a house in Dallas (had to rent it out because he'd lose $20,000+ if he sold it now), a house here, has a one-year-old boy, and student loans for his wife. It could hit him pretty hard if he doesn't find a comparably-paying job.

[turtle777]

I will never understand why people own two houses, but still have student loans going.

-t

[Art Vandelay]

We own two houses and have student loans still going. I'll explain why it's the case with us.

The student loans add up to about $60,000. The interest rate is at 1.25% for one and 4.5% for the other. Some of the interest is tax deductible, although that amount is decreasing each year as our salaries go up.

We owned a small one bedroom that wasn't big enough for the two of us. So, instead of selling and buying a new place, we just bought a new place. We're renting out our first place now at a net gain. We plan to own the first place as long as possible, probably until our retirement in 40 years and then sell it to help fund our retirement. We're also putting away about 15% of our income to retirement too. Until recently, we were getting a much higher return in it than we would paying off student loans.

The only debts we have are our student loans and mortgages. We have no other debts. We are currently paying down our second mortgage on our new place. It will be paid off by the end of 2009. We got it in early 2007. It's at 7.25%.

So, the reason we have two houses and still have student loans is because it makes more sense for us to do it that way. If we had worked on paying off the student loans first, we wouldn't have had the down payment for a new place that fit us better. So, we could have had them paid off but been miserable instead in a cramped place. Also, student loans are generally the lowest interest debt a person has. So, it makes sense to pay off higher interest debt first.

[MacTheRiverRat]

The Mississippi River (Barges) always gets a influx of new hires when the economy turns to doodoo. The last year and a half I have seem some new hires right out of college working on the River until things get better.
For Arkansas I guess It just like everywhere else. Housing market,Construction in the dumps. Arkansas doesn't have much Automotive Industry for being a southern state. There are some but unlike other southern states.

IMHO I'm looking to the spring and early summer for this economy to get out of the funk its in.

[vcutag]

My partner and I have relatively recession proof jobs; he's a high school teacher and I work for a law firm that's booked solid with work through 2010. We don't have any stock and I don't make my first 401K payment until February; we rent our house. We both have student loans, but they're manageable.

Ironically enough, 2008 has been a very good year for me. It just sucks to see so many other people getting shafted.

[sek929]

As previously said the housing market is utter shite right now. The rich people I usually work for are holding onto their money and the regular people haven't got the capital to build an addition or new house.

I'm currently collecting unemployment and catching up on some video games.

Even all the tradesmen we know are either out of work or barely working. Electricians, plumbers, excavators, floorers, painters, etc.. all hurting for work right now.

[Railroader]

The only affect we have felt is cheaper gas.

Our yearly food drive was way beyond our expectations. If all else fails, I have enough non-perishable food to last a few years.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by Railroader 

The only affect we have felt is cheaper gas.

Our yearly food drive was way beyond our expectations. If all else fails, I have enough non-perishable food to last a few years.

I don't even want to know how many boxes of Kraft Mac n' Cheese you have now.

[kmkkid]

My job is doing fine.

In fact I've received 2 raises in the last 3 months.

My job supplies a niche market, so we have many different products for many different purposes.

Our main product is housing insulation, and we're actually picking up new customers, and other major customers include the military, and infrastructural clients.

[freudling]

So far so good.

[Railroader]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

I don't even want to know how many boxes of Kraft Mac n' Cheese you have now.

We had to move the previous stock out to another charity, and had bare shelves the week before Thanksgiving.

But after Thanksgiving... WOAH!!! Actually, just a few more than before, but the syrup and peanut butter stock is amazing!

[KeriVit]

Well, I have a Masters and I work in retail. Does that count? I have student loans coming up in January.I can't face those. My other half was let go last week. My 401K is garbage. I am robbing Peter to pay Paul. But other than all that, no.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by Railroader 

We had to move the previous stock out to another charity, and had bare shelves the week before Thanksgiving.

But after Thanksgiving... WOAH!!! Actually, just a few more than before, but the syrup and peanut butter stock is amazing!

If this was the case, I'd go crazy with the Belgian waffles. Waffles + peanut butter + syrup = tasty (You can trust my math, I'll have an engineering degree in five days).

[Railroader]

I am all set!

Peanut Butter


Syrup


Syrup and waffle/pancake mix


Chocolate Chips - two layers deep


Mac n' Cheese

[Maflynn]

Things are a little tight at my company, they're cutting back on non-core expenses like going to conferences and such. No layoffs are planned in 09 in fact we're almost one quarter through 09 (our FY ends in september). All bets off on 2010 but I'm in a small department with a little bit of seniority doing some specialized work so hopefully that will insulate me further.

[finboy]

Originally Posted by Proudest Monkey 

Maybe I'll get laid off, go back for a Ph.D., put the loans on hold, and become a Prof. We'll see.

Better check the job market for PhDs before you jump in. Except for a certain, few areas, there are already too many, even too many given all the retirees over the next few years (many of whom will not be retiring after all).

Most PhDs struggle to earn what a decent mid-tier manager can make, and even then face a great deal of uncertainty. Unions give a little safety but drive wages way down, and tenure is no protection these days. Believe me, that's not really an option to rely upon right now.

OTHERWISE, I didn't start to see effects of the slump until folks began losing wealth in the stock market. Now they're scared. This "recession" started as a blowback from the housing "fix" and media hype around the election. It will end bloody, from what we're seeing now.

[SSharon]

I'll be graduating law school this spring and don't have a job lined up. I'm saving what I can working part time right now, but my health insurance just went up 20%. I don't even want to think about the loans, I just want a job for when I graduate. Anybody in NY or NJ looking to hire an attorney?

[SpaceMonkey]

I work for a non-profit. No layoffs, but no raises and we have a hiring freeze, so I'm doing more work for less.

[starman]

Our holiday parties went from flying everyone to Maui to Chinese Food.

[design219]

Originally Posted by starman 

flying everyone to Maui

Jeez, what kind of work do you do?

[Dakar V]

Originally Posted by Railroader 

*fap fap fap*

[osiris]

I suspect that I've seen that picture before in another thread.

Are we into re-runs already?

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by osiris 

I suspect that I've seen that picture before in another thread.

Are we into re-runs already?

There was a similar picture in the Kraft M&C thread, but I believe this set is new.

[osiris]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

There was a similar picture in the Kraft M&C thread, but I believe this set is new.

Alright then. But I will be checking expiration dates.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by osiris 

Alright then. But I will be checking expiration dates.

http://forums.macnn.com/89/macnn-lou...e/#post3711976

[Proudest Monkey]

I think many people have started cutting back more once the word recession started getting floated around more. In reality, hearing the word recession over and over and over again has put it into more people's head that maybe your home is not your savings account anymore and you should plan for the future.

In my situation, since the home was purchased 3 years ago our combined income has gone up 2.3 times because we both started part-time and have moved into full time positions. Our mortgage payment has remained the same, gas prices are down from $4.19 a gallon to $1.66 a gallon and now I have student loans to pay back which I will get consolidated eventually.

Really, she and I could go out shopping and doing whatever we want until something happens. Jobs have always been cut and freezes have always occurred but now we hear so much about it we can't help but have it play into our minds a little bit.

By the way, not blaming the media for any of this, just making an observation.

Anyone think it's going to get worse before it gets better? I do. Much worse.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by Proudest Monkey 

Anyone think it's going to get worse before it gets better? I do. Much worse.

I think it's going to be much worse than even the great depression, at least in terms of how it will feel to the people and the country. Why ?

Because the starting points of now vs. the Great Depression could not be more different.
In the 1920s, people came out of WWI, they were used to great turmoils, and lived comparatively modest lives. Now, people lived for years well beyond their means, gut used to a lifestyle that they should have never been able to afford.

For most people, the coming depression will feel so much harder, because the drop compared to the "before", will just be unbelievably great.

-t

[elrah]

Originally Posted by Proudest Monkey 

Anyone think it's going to get worse ... ? ... Much worse.

Me too.

This thread http://forums.macnn.com/89/macnn-lou...tor-salvation/

I'm not going to see the movie for entertainment, more for the survival tips.

[Proudest Monkey]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

I think it's going to be much worse than even the great depression, at least in terms of how it will feel to the people and the country. Why ?

Because the starting points of now vs. the Great Depression could not be more different.
In the 1920s, people came out of WWI, they were used to great turmoils, and lived comparatively modest lives. Now, people lived for years well beyond their means, gut used to a lifestyle that they should have never been able to afford.

For most people, the coming depression will feel so much harder, because the drop compared to the "before", will just be unbelievably great.

-t

This is a very interesting perspective that I can say I have never thought of. I had to read it and think about it before coming up with a response but I basically agree.

It brings into 2 questions; What will "survive" and what will fall aside as we move through this financial crisis and will this start the consumer cycle again?.

As far as stores are considered, do we really need so many Target's and Wal-Marts? All electronic stores may become obsolete due to these stores. Essentially, a consumer goods store can stock anything and push other stores out. In 10 years will be forced to do all our shopping at 1 store.

If the consumer cycle starts over then we'll see more competition eventually and a similar lifestyle we were used to. I think it eventually get's back to this type of reality. Just not sure when. Glad I'm 27 and not 67.