Search results

Most engineers would *love* to be treated as 'second class citizens'. In corporate America, right now, they're treated as subhuman trash, only to be hired on short-term contracts, if at all, and of course, every effort undertaken to outsource their job. Meanwhile, 'marketing managers' or...

So basically, all the young people who bought houses this past decade, are f*cked. Not only did they graduate into the worst possible job market, but they're going to have any equity they possibly could have accumulated, confiscated by Mr. Market. Incredible.

I remember the late 1980s/early-mid 1990s with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the entire economies of the ex-USSR had to be re-geared around acquiring 'hard currency', to pay for imports. People who couldn't generate economic activity to acquire 'hard currency' (ironically, then, US...

The banks and the real estate industry has no problem over-stimulating the housing market. The banks had no problem over-stimulating the tech industry in the late 1990s. Would it be impossible to over-stimulate the energy industry? Of course not. Keep in mind as well that reserve capacity...

Is it possible that the last 'hurrah' for banks will be all of them simultaneously going long relatively long-dated energy and commodity futures? If they all do it, at the same time, they'll inflate their profits enough that the banking sector will 'seem' to be earning good money, and hence...

So the US default won't be a default, in dollars per se, but rather, will be a default in goods and services. Its kind of like lending your brother-in-law $500k to build a housing construction business, and instead of him repaying you by building you a $500k house -- he gives you a little...

Why would commodities crash? If anything, 18% on the short-end of the curve would cause a massive sell-off in the medium-long ends of the curve, and create absolutely massive losses for the foreigners who are invested in US debt. If anything, those foreigners would be rushing like mad to buy...

Shoot the bankers and jail the 'economists' who supported the expansion of 'consumer spending' and 'consumer credit'. Abolish unsecured lending. Period. Any loan given for any purpose must be backed with collateral at least 120% of the value of the loan. Cut the size of government at...

One thing I noticed -- all of the 'retail', and even industrial outfits in Canada that formerly had significant real estate holdings -- have been spending the past decade selling them off, and renting instead. Whether it be office towers, downtown department stores, etc. All that real estate...

There are still lots of engineers who never recovered after the tech sector collapsed back in 2001. Almost the entire entire graduating classes of 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, etc., in CS or EE, are unemployed or underemployed. They weren't able to get jobs during the downturn then, and by the...

I knew the hotel industry was f*cked when I stayed a few months last year in the SFBay area, at a Hilton, for $35/night. The same hotel room, during the tech boom, I remember paying $200/night.

spades, the young people want to work -- but they insist on working for a wage that will actually pay the bills. Why should they work for some greedy old boomer who will only pay them a mere pittance, when they can just do what the boomers themselves have been doing for years -- and that is...

Where the h*ll will China get USD$ to fund the US budget deficit then if these surpluses are dropping (meaning, less USD$ available for Chinese investment.)?? Something tells me this cannot end well.

"rich man" doing that = trend just getting started. Poor taxicab driver bragging how he's going to strike it rich by hoarding metals = signal that its almost over. The commodities have momentum. No denying that. Hey now, housing prices didn't even make any sense in 2000, relative to...

It would certainly be a different risk/reward equation. Dealing with a bank that's not insured might be a better idea these days, actually, because that bank would have likely scrutinized their risks more thoroughly.

You mean, they weren't doing this when they took losses on their balances? Why didn't the IRS get on the CC issuers' asses sooner?

Growth will only start happening again when newspapers' classified ads are chock full of advertisements, "Wanted: Manufacturing Electrical Design Engineer, $200k starting salary + relocation + stock bonus. New grads welcome to apply". Until then, its fluff. Seriously, follow the labour...

Mostly phony. Here's an example: let's say we get together over coffee sometime, and give each other mortgages on our own houses. I'll let you borrow $200k against my house. You let me borrow $200k against your house. We charge each other $10k to set up the loan. No money actually...

Unemployment has been easily that high for 'producers' for the past decade. You know, factory workers, engineers, etc. The people who should be working their asses off producing goods to export to China and to OPEC, but who have been laid off because of the belief that financial 'profits' can...

Fix the economy...and the health care problem fixes itself. There's one thing for certain -- Americans are going to have to do a lot more producing, and a lot less banking in the future. Health care is only a problem right now because the rest of the economy has collapsed under the...