Money Matters - Part 2

Heard this AM that we would have to create 13 million jobs in three years just to get the unemployment rate down to 6%! Good luck.

Wow, that's bad.

Good news / bad news on the jobs report this AM. More jobs than expected were added, even factoring out census jobs. Still have not seen a breakdown of temp vs permanent yet. However, unemployment rose to 9.9%. More people who had given up started trying to find a job again.

Our gas prices are starting to increase here in Maine. Average price for a gallon is $2.93, they say it may hit close to $5 by mid-summer!!

That financial house that upgraded BP's stock to 'BUY' may have been right, BP's profits are likely to increase

If it hits 5 bucks a gallon my dear husband will ride a bike to work and thats 20 miles away!

Now it's Fannie's turn. 13 billion dollar quarterly loss and a request for 8.5 billion more from us. It never ends.

What's wrong with this picture???

http://detnews.com/article/20100510/BIZ/5100335&template=printart

The key word was Full Time as a lot of employers are cutting hours and hiring part time. So would you go to work part time and bring home the same or less than unemployment? I dont think so.....

They should be denied benefits then if offered a job and they refuse to take it... at least that's how it used to work in NJ.

It still is. You get a sheet and have to vist xyz amount of emps (some cases every 2 weeks) and have to put down the emps. business name/number/etc. So if they call you to go to work - you just dont put that emp on the sheet.

That business is rough on workers, (physically), they pay minimum wage at best w/no benefits, If you have kids and have to pay for a weekly sitter or impose on someone else and then pay for gas/ trans, lunch etc. along with the rising cost of living it may not be worth it in the long run, as opposed to collecting & making ends meet...

The majority of those landscaping businesses here use illegals - they choose who they want at a street corner and hire them on a daily basis, (I see them almost every day in the am when I drive, they have different spots for 'pickups').

the other thing is if you take a part time job when it ends and you file for unemployment again it is based on what you earned at the part time job

In most cases other than this last UE (its been extended) episode, what does it really matter? All the employers pay in the money whether their emps get laid off or not. So Exon/Mobil pay in week after week after week, where does the money go if there is no layoffs?

Took advantage of yesterday's mania and exchanged more of my retirement funds into money market. Happy days not yet here again.

Geeze!! Nice work if you can get it.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aOHcW_w1jiQY

They don't know how much oil is leaking into the gulf/ day.
1 barrel of oil = 42 gallons

... still cant figure out why they call it a 'spill'. A 'spill' comes from a ship, a well is a hole in the earth.

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/05/02/officials-admit-its-hard-to-determine-size-of-slick/

Yes, it's really sickening. The 5000 barrel figure they've been using comes from a an estimate from NOAA in Seattle that most scientists say is not valid for this type of leak. (I call it a hemorrhage.) They were told immediately that that figure was not even close, but still refuse to change it. The blame game is disgusting. The three companies blaming each other and the government blaming them. It's obvious that the original even is BP's fault. But a disaster on that scale can only be handled by the Feds, and they're failing terribly.

Market's cratering again because of Europe. None of it surprises me. And worse is yet to come.

The Dow is now at the same level as ten years ago. Nasdaq is less than half of what it was ten years ago. Glad I'm not into index funds.

Now Greece is threatening legal action against US banks for their possible part in the crisis. What a mess. Put your money under the mattress!! ^_^

Ohh brother! I was just thinking of the 'mattress thing' this week, seems the only safe nowadays!

Overseas markets tumbled from the Greece mess. This recession is not over yet, it might be climbing slow but not done by far.

Husbands job is fluxing. The mill is getting bumped down to 32 hours a week. There is no logs, and they are going to have all the guys clean, paint etc. Its shaky looking.

Sorry to hear that. Hope things pick up again.

The point I was trying to make is if the Mill goes down, construction is slumping. Thanks for the nod Victor but we are ok. Jim got the new tractor and has jobs lined up all ready.

A town over from us put in a grant for 12 grand for a ski mobile trail. Last year it was a 6 grand grant and Jim got it. Just think we tax payers pay for a ski mobile trail !

Yes - lumber is a good indicator of construction.

Just heard on the radio that GM will offer sub-prime car loans. Does anyone learn anything?!! The taxpayers are on the hook for that.

Just how much blood can you squeeze from a rock...

Depends if it's a Bloodstone or not. ^_^

lol - good one

Hate to say it, but I really have a feeling this crisis in Europe, not to mention all the other continuing problems, could result in a crash worse than '08. Contrary to what the pundits and politicians have said, that crisis was never solved. It was just shifted from the financial industry to governments already in serious debt.

Brian says the same thing Victor. He said when the European S. M. crashes it could be like the great depression here.

This message was edited May 17, 2010 8:08 AM

Yes, afraid so. The China bubble is another looming threat.

And this certainly does not help.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/story/print?guid=7A6F64F7-7350-46A8-8C61-19135A514CF4

60 minutes did a piece on this two weeks ago.

It's just another example of people not taking responsibility for their actions. The entire meltdown came down to individual homeowners choosing to buy a house they knew they could not afford. You can blame banks, Wall St and the government all you want, but it's the people who made this happen. And the responsible people once again have to pay for the irresponsible.

I always go back to the three card monty analogy. If you're dumb enough to play that game and lose, is it the fault of the dealer??

This message was edited May 17, 2010 10:00 AM

give a man enough rope and he will hang himself

Hold on, what one was it Goldman Sack took and gave out loans and knew the people couldnt pay it when this happened. Loans should NOT go to a person if it cant get paid.

And the person asking for the loan does not know he or she cannot repay it??? Is it the drug dealer's fault when a person makes the voluntary decision to buy the junk the first time?

The Feds put pressure on the banks to give out the loans, it was good for politics if you could promise everyone 4 chickens in every pot. The banks simply did'nt want to get stuck with worthless IOUs so they sold them and so on and so on. As long as the money was moving it was real, but sooner or later an accounting had to be taken and that's when the shoe dropped. If anyone is to blame it's the people, the people fought for and won the right to be irresponsible.

Too much of a change in values towards material wealth these last 20yrs.