Looks like I'm going to be out of a job in the forthcoming weeks. Grr. Damn recession messing up the building industry. So if anyone needs a Landsurveyor/setting out engineer then pleeeeeeese get in touch!
i hate to see anyone lose their job-mind you, i think we're gonna see a lot of it in the foreseeable.. good luck, mate!
I don't really understand why this whole collapse of the economy happened. Anyway, I blame Gordon Brown. It's my theory that he wasn't checking his statements and then when Mr Darling took over he opened them and basically went "F***! Can't believe we're that close to the overdraft limit!" Classic Ostrich syndrome.
nice theory, but i think it's something to do with too much easy credit, and overly inflated house prices, and greed and stuff... i do like your theory though. i'm replaying 'darling' opening the bank statements and going 'f***' over and over in my head, and it's creasing me up!:biggrin:
Excuse my ignorance but... Excuse my purposeful ignorance. Money is just paper yes or no? Can't they just secretly print the stuff and dole it out and cover their tracks? I suppose I'm being incredibly economically naive and their every move is monitored by some idependent IMF body. It is still just bits of paper though isn't it? And all the trouble it causes on our life jouneys! "All just bits of paper flying away from me, this is the road to hell!" chrs andi
that would just mean rampant inflation... or something. anyway, most money is electronic these days, not paper. it's not actual money, as we'd understand it. it's more a 'promise'. if everybody, and every business, and institution or whatever called in all their debts at the same time, it would make the current crisis look like boom-time! or something like that. you know that famous old film clip from germany where they're going round with wheelbarrows full of money, that's worth less than the wheelbarrow it's in...? that's what happens when they print too much money. or so i believe.
The Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy had this to say on the subject: (Not a direct quote as I couldn't find my copy!)
Ya gotta love a bit of Douglas Adams Critch, that totally sucks! :bored: If I had a job, I'd offer it to ya like a shot... get into academia, the pay is ****e but the security is great LOL...
Think if it all goes pear shaped I might go and retrain as a teacher. Are you still allowed to use the cane? Do you have to wear those funny hats?
I believe the answers to those questions are no and no :wink: if you do want any advice on teaching, drop me a line and I'll put Big D in touch with ya...
Money,money money is so funny in a rich man's world Godd prog on the subject last night on the TV. How the Incas were corrupted / decimated by Pizarro etc. when he found the mountain of silver and the price of the commodity went down so the Spanish weren't as rich as they thought they'd be because of the sudden superabundance of it. My ex wife was made redundant recently as a teacher and the Job Centre recommended going on a retrain course as a Career Teacher which says something I think in this current uncertain job market. If you can't get a job go and find a job helping others without jobs.If you can't start self employment go and get a job teaching others how to start a business etc.. andi
Yeah sorry! I'm ploughing in the hours of work trying to keep my current job, but come Friday (well Tuesday next week - after the hangover subsides!) I'll be looking for things to do! :bored:
i suppose you could always relocate to india and get a job in a call centre until things pick up over here...
Sorry, and I couldn't resist Hopefully Critch has watched enough "Friends" so he can speak English to the Americans who don't understand why their adjustable rate mortgages have been adjusted! A lot of the problem is the stinking Americans (oops, that's me) and their cock-sure attitude about their infallibility. Our government (our generation) did not react to the problem in a timely fashion or deal with the cause, the many defaults on those cheap ARM home loans. All those loans were re-packaged, re-sold, and so widely spread around (the world!) most of our financial institutions stood to lose big bucks if they failed. Because of current Mark-to-Market accounting practices, big investors needed to sell investments for cash, rather than borrow on their (now worthless?) assets. Before this "recession" began, last year everyone was talking about global market synergies driving a global economic boom. Those same synergies are now in reverse. It's obvious Critch and millions of others need a quick solution. We also need a longer-lasting solution. Rampant Capitalism was never the solution. We need to work on long-term solutions in a way everyone understands so the system can work towards being fair to everyone. Short-term, I'd have frozen the Assets of all the sub-prime lenders and placed a moratorium on evictions for a reasonable period to renegotiate now unmanageable ARMs -- the government should have penalized the predatory lenders to preserve the economic engine. I would have never hired Bernanke (Fed Chmn) or Hank Paulson (Treasury Sec'y) as all their actions seem to have favored the Big Banks at the expense of Individual Investors (my opinion). I would freeze all assets over $20 million in a year (earned over the last 5 years) by any executive to determine whether they were appropriate rewards for services rendered (98% would fail). While this would amount to a drop in the bucket, it would send a renewed signal of accountability to our economic lords and princes (we used to call them "Captains of Industry," an appropriate rank). Sorry, again. I suppose I should contribute to the Harper Forum for Economic Sensibility, not blither on here. I wish Critch luck. He has a worthy skill that shows instant results.
Econom[sicks] All these years worried about inflation ; now they're worried about deflation! Economic cycles / interpretations are crazily variant and inexplicable to the average joe pundit. If we have no growth and go into a recession now then next year they will be able to claim growth on the zero or negative situation / outurn now. Is that right? You have to go through a bad patch to then say we are now going through a good patch compared to previous woes? Don't make much sense to me for any pointless point with the I Ching in my buttonhole painted with a cheaper pen than last year and an economic Siamese universe growing out of capitalism, always expecting to grow even in the face of the finite resources all surrounding. chrs andi twixt :angelsad2: and :reddevil: ps don't worry have not been eating the Hash currant buns before the blackbirds stole them! Just browsing through the Financial Times out of boredom.
That is bored! Well I'm officially redundant. Grr. See what happens. I've applied for maybe 20 jobs now so hopefully I'll see something happening. It's a bit of a problem this recession thing - and I don't think that it is entirely the American's fault. House prices have been on their way up for years and years, so has tax, especially on fuel. On the flip side, the government has been fighting giving people pay rises all this time. It wasn't too long ago that the Fire Brigade were striking, and then Fozzwick was on strike with the council workers and teachers if I remember rightly. So with the smallest family house in the North (yeah, that divide again - worse down saaafffff!) costing over 80 grand now, and the starting salary of a graduate being about 18 grand, how is anyone meant to get on the ladder? So what happens? People stop buying. Not because they don't want to, simply because they can't. So the house prices stop to drop. Everyone thinks great, things'll moderate out to a proper decent level, but no. The banks get panicky and pull the plug on morgages. People can't buy. Prices drop, and building sites go out of business. People out of work, more people can't buy/pay their morgage and it all spirals, spirals, spirals. If you ask me, the banks over here have caused it just as much. That and the (f-ing) media stiring it up and scare mongering. The one thing I do know is that it won't last. I may struggle for a couple of years but at least I have a trade which'll be useful again one day. And in the mean time, I'll enjoy that social security that I've paid into for years through my taxes and never ever claimed. I shall become.... *Dole Scum*. :blushing:
Supply v. Demand? You gentlemen show wonderful strength, perseverance, and humor. In the face of knowing we have everything to make the world a better place for everyone, except the necessary wisdom and a plan we can all pretty much agree upon. :banghead:
as a man with skills, there's always scope for the odd, erm, 'fiddle job'.. not that i'm condoning benefit fraud, you understand... you're dead right about the banks here being as guilty as the septics, by the way. in fact it seems to me (simple man that i am) that the whole greed fest that all the big plc's have been on over the years hasn't helped matters. the whole screw every last penny out of the stupid punters mentality, and big payouts for shareholders, and increasing profits year on year until it became ridiculous and, frankly, obscene... stop me, i'm ranting...! as you say, it won't last. and then they can start the whole thing over again, and in another 10 years, we'll be back here again...! oh, i'm doing it again...! all the best, mate!
