Me too. I’ll probably drop my premium channels, now that The Wire is over.
I switched to a Tracfone a couple of years ago. I’m trying to get my husband to give up his Verizon. One year of that cell service equals three Harley payments! I’d like him to give up the Harley too, but that ain’t gonna happen.
A friend recently landed a good job after almost a year of searches and interviews, but only because people retired to make openings. And she’s one of very few people in this area who have the kind of experience they needed (union negotiations). If not for that, she’d still be looking, even with an impressive resume and stellar recommendations.
Sixth week of being unemployed. Can’t even get a callback from Burger King, for Pete’s sake. I was beginning to wonder if I’d been blacking out and scrawling I WANT TO EAT YOUR SOOOUUULLL on all the applications I’ve been handing in; sucks for everyone right now, but at least I’m reassured that I’m probably not unemployable. Just unlucky. Sigh.
You name it, it’s getting exported. Here are a few of the cargos I’ve handled quotes and bookings for recently: oil well suupplies, silver bars, household goods, cars, machinery (both new and used), gift items (40-foot container of donations for the soldiers in Baghdad), baking mixes, mayonnaise, chemicals, fire-fighting equipment, nutritional supplements, hand tools. It’s pretty much the same range of stuff I’ve seen exported in the 2 years I’ve been working there, just more of it. And it’s more difficult to get space on carriers every day. In some inland cities (Chicago, for example) there are NO empty containers to be had that are not already spoken for, for Maersk, one of the major carriers. Detroit is about the same.
Can’t say that I’m suffering horribly but I got laid off a month ago today I knowingly took a job with a company that was losing money due to a merger but it was a great job. The people were great to work with and I loved the work. When I say the people were great to work with I’m not kidding. One of my bosses is trying to find work for me as are my former cohorts.
I still have the severance package from the last company in the bank so I’m not hammered by the economy as much as I’m hammered by my age. This is killing my retirement plans. I’ve also run the gamut of jobs in my direct field of expertise so I will be changing careers. That really sucks.
I got laid off on Friday. Of our 8 employees, 5 full time, they let 2 full-timers go. They expect to change the business model or close the business entirely within a month or two. I’ve applied for unemployment, and am looking for a job on the bus route so that I can sell my car.
On the bright side, my house is getting cleaned and organized.
Exactly. The process is that a (usually) 20- or 40-foot container is brought by truck, usually to a factory or warehouse. The shipper loads it and places a seal on it. The trucker delivers it to a rail ramp or a seaport. Eventually it is loaded on a carrier vessel and ends up in another country where the authorized consignee takes possession of it, removes the seal, unloads it and returns it to a seaport, rail or depot. (There is a ton of documentation done to make sure that the stuff is accounted for and gets to the authorized party, among other things.)
The steamship line, of course, is happy if there is another load for someone else waiting to be taken to another port so that the container is always being used. If not, they eventually have to reposition the container without getting any profit from it. What’s happening now is that the U.S. is having far more exports than it used to and that system is all kerflooie. I have a hunch that there are acres and acres of containers somewhere in the world waiting for someone to want them to transport something to the U.S., but it’s not happening fast enough to satisfy the current export demand.
Was in the mortgage business for 5 years. Got laid off. Want to move because mortgage is more than 3 times what we were paying in rent, but house has dropped $29,000 in last 12 months. Two years ago people were bullying us about how dumb we were for renting. “You’re throwing your money away.” Curse us for damn fools for finally listening.
Lansing Michigan, home of tens of thousands of laid-off auto employees. I have a bachelor’s degree, working on a master’s, no one is hiring for careers. Hiring managers tell me they get about 300+ applications for every posting. Still working at a McJob that pays $8.50/hr, 36 hr/week. No health insurance. The cost to commute to work each day accounts for the first 1.5 hours pay. Bank account would be negative if not for my tax refund check that just came in. Have downgraded my diet to pasta-based 3 nights a week and potato-based 3 nights a week. Treat myself to some meat once a week (When the hell did meat become a freakin treat?!). Car has about three months to live without some major repairs, no idea what I’m going to do when it finally dies.
I own a small software business. Over the past 2 years or so our sales have shifted from 75/25 (US/Intl) to 40/60 (US/Intl). I would love to start charging US customers in Euro, but most Americans don’t know what Euros are in practical terms. We are also no longer keeping any savings in the US… it is all in other currencies.
We left Dubai due to the rising costs (since the currency is tied to the USD but most imports are not from the US… not to mention the demand for housing is soaring).
I think we may be returning to the US later this year as the US is so incredibly cheap… petrol is half of what it costs here and food, clothes, heating, consumer goods… everything is much, much cheaper in the US. I don’t want to come back to the US, but the economic reality is forcing me to.
I’m not getting hammered, but I notice the difference, mostly due to gas prices. Groceries are noticably higher…things aren’t on sale like they used to be. I’m fine as long as I remain employed, though.
I feel bad for people who work a low-paying job to which they commute 25+ miles each way in a gas guzzler (i.e. my sister-in-law). I think the stagflation/recession (I’m calling it, even if so-called experts are too chickenshit to) is making ends not possible to meet for a whole lot of people. This is going to be huge in this fall’s elections.
A buddy in NoVa used to say that the buildup of containers in the seaport there was a bad sign, about 4 years ago. This morning he says they’re still there, but possibly moving out from the inside where he can no longer see.
Well, this is a good thing for a friend whose husband works for a new local company (Eby) that makes containers.
The place where I used to work has had to constantly expand their storage lots, because the trucking companies leave the empties, sometimes for months. That’s always puzzled me.
Are you serious about that number? I mean, for a food service example, all the In N Outs I’ve seen in California have signs on them advertising that their starting pay is $11/hour, which is more than 20k if you are working full-time…
Not yet, but it isn’t too far away. I work for a non-profit, and with the economy down, we are already seeing a substantial drop in donation income, probably to be followed in short-order by a drop in earned income as people don’t have money for activities like visiting museums. My job will be mostly affected by having to do more as we cut hours and jobs. My job is safe, as I would be the one turning off the lights after everybody else was let go if we went under entirely (not likely), but I’m anticipating those 60-70 hour weeks once the season gets under way.
Seems people have considerably less disposable income so income in the entertainment industry has been down. My income’s probably dropped between 20%-40%. Voluntarily cutting hours so I can go back to school hasn’t helped either.
Our yearly raises are “tied to” inflation. By “tied to”, I mean that it’s basically inflation if you suck, and a couple points above inflation if you don’t suck.
Couple problems with this. . .
I got a raise in December and inflation seems to have really set in since then.
It’s tied to core inflation which doesn’t usually include gasoline, a large expense for a commuter.
If inflation runs very high this year, I don’t trust them to really match it. That’s an easy claim, when inflation is 3%.
Still, I feel very secure in my job, and if my raises are tied to inflation, that makes my largest expense (house payment) that much cheaper.
I feel bad for people unemployed, though. I was unemployed in 2001 for 6 months, and that’s not fun. Especially with a wife and a house.