[quote=partypup][quote=JohnAlt91941][quote=partypup]I mentioned an anecdote in a thread the other day about a friend who had applied for a job as a cashier at a Trader Joe’s in Santa Maria. There were 400 other applicants. Someone on this board thought the anecdote was fishy and didn’t “smell” right.
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That would be me. How did >1000 applicants that you wrote earlier now become 400?
These kinds of stories are common during a recession. Haven’t you ever been through one?
A huge number of applicants showed up to apply at In-N-Out in El Cajon in the early 90’s when it opened. I know because it was reported on TV, which loves stories like that. I graduated from college in the early 90’s and had a tough time finding a steady job. There were anecdotal reports of hundreds of applicants for an accountant job.
But now things are different. Uh huh.
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Yeah, I was checking out of a hotel as I posted this article, and my partner was talking to me. So sorry I incorrectly wrote “400” when I meant to write “1000”. I’ll be sure to be on my toes next time, John 😉
And yes, this time it really IS different. In my business (entertainment), all we’ve heard for decades is how it’s a recession-proof industry. LOL. What a joke.
We’re getting slammed so hard now that veterans at my company are just walking around, scratching their heads. Ad revenue – which had consistently grown (yes, even in the 70s) for YEARS is now contracting for the first time. Our company – which has NEVER reported a loss — simply can’t cash flow to all vendors anymore. Some weeks we joke about whether we will still be able to make payroll. Is this like the early 90s? Maybe on a different planet, but I lived through the 90s bust – and I’ve never seen anything like this. I was laid off from my law firm in 1991, got another job in a couple of months. Now colleagues of mine are wandering around for 8+ months after layoffs, and still don’t have replacement jobs. My condo was underwater for 8 years in the 90s, but it only lost about 15% of its value at the bottom. Already the home I sold in 2007 is worth 20% less. Do you think we’re anywhere near the bottom??
So yeah, this time IS different.
The “d” word is everywhere now. And that means that we’ve passed the 90s and the 70s. We’re heading to 1929. Heck, I’m fully-prepared to slash my standard of living by 50%, and I’ve saved up for this prospect. I’m ready for the pain. But I suspect most people aren’t in that position. Because they’re still thinking that this is going to be like the 90s or the 70s, and it’s not.
This is NOT a recession.[/quote]
Yes it is different. Craigs list, Amazon, google news and a host of cost saving sites have truly brought deflation to consumers and is just wrecking most high profit margins in various industries. Not to mention overseas competition. Had a discussion a few years back with someone about overseas competition and he dismissed it as nothing by stating that Japanese were going to take over everything in the 80’s, but that didn’t happen, so don’t worry. We innovated all right by getting into services such as loan origination and other great financial products.
This is from latest Businessweek: “But,
although a modern economy does need the effective
provision of some financial basics, such
as risk capital, credit and insurance, claims that
all the bells and whistles that have been developed
over the last couple of decades are a net
plus are implausible. Can we really believe that
a financial sector now receives more than thirty
percent of domestic corporate profits—double
its share from twenty five years ago—because
it has produced improvements in mobilizing or
allocating capital of that magnitude?”
When a quasi-libertarian is stating this, you know something is wrong with the system. Spending other people’s money, whether it is Congress or corp execs, most have just been spending at will without regard to constituents.
