It's Happening...

[Gumbo]

If you want to play the poo-poo trade buy Procter and Gamble....

EBAY ought to benefit from a slowdown too...

It is true that in times of recessions that pizza and beer sales do increase...

TAP is being added to a lot of instituional portfolios in the last few days...

Other recessionary standbys...SO, AEP, FPL

[Duck$$$]

Food, grocery business and local dollar stores(dollar general, etc.) in my opinion. Seems that in crisis and down times people stay close to home and more people should start to cook and eat at home. The chain restaraunts should be down significantly. This is just my opinion for what it is worth. I am in the food business and my business has been doing good the last couple of months and even now. A blessing for sure because I see others struggling now. Lord willing it will stay that way I hope. I will bet Wal mart does good the next year and I heard they were enjoying better sales due to clothing (cheaper than others) and also grocery sales.

[RebelYelp]

8000 ?? that's all ? hell, we didn't cross that threshold until '97..... dipped back below it after 9/11 and came back up. if 8000 is as low as she goes, we'll be just fine. No, i'm not saying things are great, and i'm not saying they won't get worse, but I am saying that if 8k is as low as it goes, then as a whole, we will be "ok"

methinks the media is making a bigger deal of this than it really is, thus causing people to panic... which in turn is actually causing problem; kind of like self fulfilling prophecy.... you think you will fail, therefore you do.... the media is causing panic telling us there will be a depression, we begin to believe it, therefore we cause one by not spending.

Does this have much to do with the subprime housing, etc. No, that (among other things such as dereg, etc.) was the catalyst that started the problem, but, we are actually making things worse instead of better by going into a shell, quitting spending, pulling money out of investments, etc.

[RebelYelp]

[cwink]

I don't think it is time to panic, but we should defintly prepare for slower econimic times. People lived of credit so much, and I think that is what is going to change (which I think is good).. So we should start preparing for changes. BIG changes.. However, if your below 60 I wouldn't pull my money of the market yet.. Maybe go more conservative, but you should have been there already if your getting close to 60..

50s and on down.. If your putting into your 401k or IRA, just keep putting it in there. Like clockwork everymonth. We will rebound from this, but it may take 5 years.. I think it will coincide with a new plan on energy..

[Bankermane]

Its been happening and ain't close to over. Lots of pain to go.

[the doctor]

Rebel, I dont disagree with a lot of your comments...things are never as good as they seem and things are never as bad as they seem and somewhere in betweeen reality lies.

however, I am not part of the MSM and maybe what I am seeing is actually part of a self fulfilling prophecy but the key word being fulfilling

Personally I think part of our problem is the fact that most dont think its as bad as it actually is.

the doc

[StraightUp]

If you can remember back to 1992 when the press was saying "the sky is falling!". They campaigned for Clinton just like they are doing for Obama today. As soon as Clinton won the election, they came out and said that, "low and behold it's not as bad as the economists thought". They said there isn't a recession after all. I predict the economy will take a "big upturn" if a democrat is elected. The press has so much influence on the psyche of the masses.

[Deltamud77]

Rebel, I dont disagree with a lot of your comments...things are never as good as they seem and things are never as bad as they seem and somewhere in betweeen reality lies.

however, I am not part of the MSM and maybe what I am seeing is actually part of a self fulfilling prophecy but the key word being fulfilling

Personally I think part of our problem is the fact that most dont think its as bad as it actually is.

the doc

How bad do you think it is and how bad to you think it will get? Are we Great Depression Redux potential bad?

In the long run, I think this will be a good thing as it will reset the market and the mindsets of people. I don't think that Obama will be able to screw things up as bad as he would have otherwise, however I could be really wrong on that. Right now wanting the job of POTUS is like wanting the job of head turd taster. This thing could force people to be fiscally responsible again. My grandfather's generation endured the depression. That generation was better with fiscal responsibility than any I am aware of. Maybe we are about to be tried and tested in a similar fashion. I personally think the young people (35 and younger) that endured the depression ended up being perhaps the countries greatest generation and formed the basis for the greatest country in history.

If things get as bad as they are saying, there is going to be some serious suffering for those with poor work ethic. We are a nation of 400 million people. There will be work available simply to support the size of the country. There will be money to be made. We will all have to be resourceful and willing to work.

[Bankermane]

We need change ! !



And it looks like that's all that will be left.

[Rick_MS]

Never realized it took over 20 years to get back to the 1929 levels after that crash.

[stitch]

If you can remember back to 1992 when the press was saying "the sky is falling!". They campaigned for Clinton just like they are doing for Obama today. As soon as Clinton won the election, they came out and said that, "low and behold it's not as bad as the economists thought". They said there isn't a recession after all. I predict the economy will take a "big upturn" if a democrat is elected. The press has so much influence on the psyche of the masses.

Funny you said that....I agree. I'm in the forest products business which is tied closely to this housing fiasco. I was at a meeting a few months ago with one of the nations largest kitchen cabinet manufacturers. Their CEO gave a presentation, and he showed headlines from newspapers across the country that read:
"Housing Market may Never Return" - New York Times
"Record Forclosures Predicted" - Chicago Tribune
"The Next Great Depression" - LA Times
......of course, everyone was depressed......then he said "these were headlines from 1992", and you could just see the look on everyone's faces thinking "we will be OK".

Now, I know things aren't pretty rough now and I think people should go to prison for this Freddie / Fannie Deal. Certain segments are hurting....but there are a lot of good things. I deal with many business in the industry that are turning orders away because they are so busy.

Sorry I keep rambling, but I have noticed that businesses in my industry with solid plans are doing well. The small to medium size guys are doing well. The companies that are "fat"......not doing so well. With today's world, you have to have the flexibility to make adjustments and the foresight to know to make them. The big boys can't seem to turn the battleship around.

[cwink]

We got the word from our Company CEO today. Cutting back from 5 regions to 2.. Dropping our sales force and cutting a level of Managers. The number of people with pagers on thier hips continues to dwindle. Next week we will be below 3 million pagers in service. When I started here in 1996 we were at 2.5 million grew to 11 million and now back to our starting point. Our biggest issues now is layoff from other companies. When they lay someone off that has a pager, they lay off the pager too..

[Blackduck]

I'd imagine that the advent of cellphones/instant communication/PTT/ ect has hurt pagers as well. Good luck wink.

[cwink]

I'd imagine that the advent of cellphones/instant communication/PTT/ ect has hurt pagers as well. Good luck wink.

Oh yeah.. That is the biggest killer.. I have been here for 12 years now, the pay is great the posting time is great I have reached my max tenure to get the 6 month severance package should they decided to turn me loose.. So I will stay here until they tell me to leave.