The Economy

A friend of mine is a very talented artist. She has a booth in the Three Rivers Art Festival down here every year. Well it was this past Saturday and Sunday. I went to visit her for a couple hours yesterday at her booth and was quite surprised about the lack of people. She said it'd been so slow both days and was fairly depressing. That's where she makes a lot of her money for the year. We came to the conclusion that it's probably because of the crazy economy and rumors of the world coming to an end (economy-wise) that had scared people away. Nobody has and/or wants to spend money on artwork right now. And you know...I really can't think of a better reason. It makes a lot of sense, unfortunately. Neutral

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"It's not about the legacy you leave, it's about the life you live." ~Mara Jade Skywalker

Just thought this article on Citigroup might interest people:
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/nov2008/db20081120_719245.htm?chan=investing_investing+index+page_top+stories

The part I found most interesting was that Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal "once the bank's largest shareholder, who said publicly he intended to increase his stake by $350 million, to 5%, from less than 4%, and pledged 'full and complete support to Citi management.'"

No disrespect intended towards any Saudis but when Saudi princes start promising support to American companies (however small that support may be) you know the American economy's situation is getting pretty bad.
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So I just found this article on AIG: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=abs5qOXnwVfA&refer=home

Apparently the high ups in the company are taking some more major pay cuts and stuff (according to the article the CEO will have a $1 salary through '09). I'm amazed that anything like this is even happening but I'll be very pleased if they do take serious pay cuts for the duration of their economic problems. Now if only we can convince other companies similar measures are better than just asking for taxpayer money.
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Could you imagine reporting your taxes...

What is your salary?
$1.00

That would be hilarious. I'd go around telling people, "Yeah, I'm rich, and I only make one dollar a year." Laughing

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So as many of you may know stores have been trying to boost sales by offering discounts. Unfortunately it may have worked all too well in drawing customers. Today (Black Friday) a Wal-Mart worker was killed by stampeding shoppers who rushed in as soon as the store opened for business.

Here is an article on the tragic event:

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssConsumerGoodsAndRetailNews/idUSN2841778420081129

Clearly despite the economic situation America has yet to learn its lesson about greed. I can only hope that we wake up to the reality of what we will become if we continue down this path of mindless greed and selfishness before it is too late.
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Oh, wow...that's really sad, ya'll! I can't believe the absolute stampede a crowd was able to cause with just wanting to be first?! It wasn't even out of panic! I mean, that's really terrible.
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"It's not about the legacy you leave, it's about the life you live." ~Mara Jade Skywalker

So the big news today was that we've officially been in a recession since December '07. Needless to say that also cause stocks to sink again. Here's an article on the subject:
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/12/01/ap5762919.html
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So for anyone interested in math type stuff its been in the news lately that a very prominent stock exchange head Bernard Madoff has been running a Ponzi scheme for decades. I'm beginning to think the last few years should be declared "when the insane greed of the incredibly wealthy destroyed the economy"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7782731.stm
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So latest news is Circuit City is liquidating
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aoXcWLaVIkTs&refer=home

The biggest significant thing I see there is that the liquidation ends March 31st which I believe is also when the Detroit Big Three are supposed to prove viability. We might see some real interesting activity in the stock market come March/April as a result of thousands of people losing their jobs at the same time the long term survival of the automakers comes into the spotlight.
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I heard about that, and personally I think it's very sad. For as long as I can remember, Circuit City has always been around, and it's normally the place I think of when I'm headed to get something electronicish. I mean...they have many cons, and there's nothing terribly special about them I don't guess...but it just seems unreal that they're actually going to be gone. I guess to me it's somewhat like Starbucks being gone, or McDonald's, or even Wal-Mart. Just one of those places I always remember having around. *shrugs*

But anyway...I wonder who's next. I'm kind of afraid to see what other companies are about to tank. Wasn't CC a surprise, though? I knew they were closing many of their stores awhile back, but this seems very sudden. Huh.
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"It's not about the legacy you leave, it's about the life you live." ~Mara Jade Skywalker

I know it's sad, but this is capitalism-- when one falls, another is there to take its place. There are plenty of electronic stores still in business and I'm sure someone will make a new one as well.

We need more people taking risks; I mean real, legitimate risks. Obama said this recently but I'm not sure if he understand the real magnitude of which risks must be taken...
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Well I did read an article awhile ago that said that one of the reasons we aren't recovery quite as well as hoped is because the government is supporting companies that should "die" and that that is preventing the economically sound companies from recovering and getting stronger.
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