How are you doing in the current economic climate?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7352402.stm

4000 jobs to go at Merrill Lynch!

Great.... the more this happens, the more this large companies turn to companies like mine to help them reduce costs and improve value for money from their internally sourced services....one man's ceiling is another man's floor and all that....

Cheers

Jim

I know what you mean. Got out of the "pool" few years back. Can say saw it comming!

Was adviced not to but did it anyway, so "gut feeling" and acumen paid off.

I just got a letter from my Mastercard provider congratulating me on the new, substantially increased credit limit they've just given me (completely unasked for). They wish me luck in taking advantage of the new freedom this gives me!!!

Crunch? What crunch?

My car tax has gone up to £400 a year....

Phil

's funny. Depite 'Credit (or rather Liquidity) Crunches', the 2nd Gulf War, 9/11, the Millenium bug (that wasn't), Russia defaulting on its debts, the ERM fiasco, house price collapses, the first Gulf War, Black Wednesday, Tuesday and Monday, the rise and decline and the rise again of 'Tiger' economies, The Thatcher years, The Unions, The Oil Crisis, The U.S. stockmarket plunges in the '70's, personal and corporate greed and mistakes a plenty throughout, The World doesn't stop turning...

UK is a bit sh*t though, if you use the FTSE 100 as a guide to economic wealth and development, then we're stuck where we were ten years ago. So hopefully you don't put all your eggs in this basket...

And yes UK tax is a p*ss take

quote:

we're stuck where we were ten years ago

Things can only get better - my arse! So glad I saw through Labour's cheap disguise and protest-voted Green.

quote:

And yes UK tax is a p*ss take

Tell me about it!

At least if RBS go bust my debt'll get wiped out (hopefully )

quote:

Originally posted by Exiled Highlander:
Great.... the more this happens, the more this large companies turn to companies like mine to help them reduce costs and improve value for money from their internally sourced services....one man's ceiling is another man's floor and all that....

Cheers

Jim

Absolutely, those with holdings in Gold will appreciate the 'credit crunch' giving them 40 - 50% growth over the last 12 months...

quote:

Originally posted by wellyspyder:
Did you anticipate this?

No offence intended to any fools but - only a fool could have failed so to do.

http://forums.naim-audio.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/5801938...692922007#3692922007

Dave Spart

and possibly - http://forums.naim-audio.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/5801938...502920117#1502920117

quote:

Did you anticipate this?

Yes. It's well known that in our capitalist world the economy fluctuates, from boom to recession, to boom again, to recession, and so on. A full cycle typically takes something like seven and a half year.

quote:

Did you loose any money?

No. Call me boring, but I like to keep the few quid I earn and don't gamble with them on the stock market.

quote:

Can you hold out to get it back?

Here's the problem. We ordinary "workers" are in the hands of the big capitalists and might loose our job because of them.

FYI. I am a big suporter of free enterprise, but can see nothing positive what so ever with the stock market gambling economy. Okey, if everybody has stock to look after, the risque of a revolution is minimized ("Tomorrow we go out and do a revolution!" "No, for god's sake, my stocks will fall to the floor!").

JohanR

Car tax up; insurance up; petrol up; alcohol up - drinking and driving has never been so expensive...

Cd's seem much cheaper than they ever were - I just buy too many but I blame it on you guys giving me great recommendations - oh and blinking MySpace which should possibly be named for me KidinAsweetShop.com

quote:

Originally posted by Diccus62:
Cd's seem much cheaper than they ever were - I just buy too many but I blame it on you guys giving me great recommendations - oh and blinking MySpace which should possibly be named for me KidinAsweetShop.com

Yeah especially if you buy them from the U.S. at half the Sterling price! Seems I rarely pay more than six or seven quid these days and usually less, which is pretty much an LP price 20 to 25 years ago. Although vinyl LP's are twice that...at least. Funnily enough though, CD's and vinyl are of course plastic, is it the sort of plastic that's directly oil derived or is it chemistry lab type plastic? I.E. if oil is heading for $120 a barrel, should CD's be 6 times more expensive than when it was $20 a barrel just a few years ago?

For goodness sake, keep your voice down.
Next thing you know c.d's will be through the roof

the price of diesel for my van is a f*****g disgrace !!
when filling up in november 2005 it cost me £40.
filled up the other day and it topped £52.
thats an incredible 30% increase in under two and a half years. in any other country there would be riots....france springs to mind!

In the UK, prices, costs, taxes are going up at a far higher rate than wages are, assuming you are employed. The recent wage rises at the company who I work for have been rpi,or rpi + a fraction of a %.
For the highest earners, people in the banking & insurance world, they remain relatively unaffected. The bonuses paid out at the end of last year in "the city" broke all previous records. Now, RBS seem to be going cap-in-hand to their share holders for a few billion, & there are rumours of quite a few forced redundancies in that sector. I bet they won't be from the top end earners though, & if they are, there will be enormous severance packages, I'll bet.
Matt.

At the risk of sounding Parry-esque, I sold my shares in Googletoday...

Everything is fantastic!

Thanks for asking.

Hope you are well too.

Cheers
Jim

quote:

Originally posted by Phil Cork:
My car tax has gone up to £400 a year....

Phil

Start walking through the Fountain Gate and save some money .

Jono (PC314)

Just got a sub from the BofE, happy times are here again

Concerning gas prices something strange is happening overhere in The Netherlands. Prices of gas are three times as high as in the USA for example. We pay 1,50 euro's p/ltr at the moment. So you would expect people to buy cars that run cheap on petrol but I only see very large cars around me. Strange development.

How much is a price of bread today compared to say Saturday?
I think we are near a serious crash.

Not sure the price of bread has gone up since Saturday where I live, although it assuredly will have gone stale, cos I live in France = proper bread.

But if it's any comfort, I appear to have sold my Google shares too soon. There's something funny - seems to me - about how the media deal with this both sides of the Atlantic. I have satellite TV here so I get the UK perspective (French telly really is pants), but I use the US stock market and follow its associated circus. It appears to me that the UK media deliberately, and often with a leer, try to paint the worst and most voyeristic possible picture of pretty much everything. From rejoicing in Terminal 5 going wrong, to sensationalising and making so much of the McCann child disappearance that someone else - admittedly probably unhinged - (allegedly) decided to fake similar to gain money/celebrity/something, - to the treatment of "Credit Crunch" (ugh). RBS staging a (even record-breakingly huge) rights issue is simply nowhere as much of a ghastly portend for economic disaster as the UK media are trying to suggest it is (and seemingly want it to be). It's possible to talk yourself into a recession/crash, and Britain appears to be trying to do just that.

On the other hand the first quarter results in the States have been, by and large, so much better (well - less bad anyway) than expected, that the US media are taking a more positive attitude, which is helping, or trying to help, propel everything in the right direction and thus limiting or lessening the damage that Bush/sub-prime/war etc etc has undoubtedly done.

It's all an incredibly fragile thing and genuinely down to the confidence of each and every investor/borrower. If everything does crash, it will be the fault of the media and the people who slavishly and unquestioningly listen to it.

Right, rant over. I'm off to cook something to eat, and uncork something lovely to drink, whilst watching The Apprentice...

I too have access to US & UK media Rod, but my take is very different.

US media is saddled with keeping sponsors & advertisers sweet,
whereas in the UK there is more separation between these & TV in the commercial sector,
& of course the BBC is commercially independent.

As I see it the US media is self serving & being dishonest due to vested interests.

If there is a recession? There is a recession!
How bad it gets we will have to wait & see,
but it's due to the greed & stupidity of banks/borrowers,
hedge fund managers, etc, not the media.

My 2p, just like yours Rod.

Fair enough.

Perhaps I should've restricted my comments to the financial press. Certainly I'd rather see the front page of the WSJ than that of the FT these days if I was feeling glum. But I'm not trying to pick a fight with anyone for sure.

But I don't buy the commercial independence of the BBC anymore and the economies of neither the States nor the UK is technically in recession - yet at least.

The relationship of $:€ (and others) is of far greater concern to the US economy right now, but you're right about whose fault it is...

My Jean-Marc Boillot 2003 Puligny-Montrachet was particularly lovely, so maybe I'm just in an upbeat mood!