Grim Times

[The Gardener]

This can't be sustained for much longer:

Photo gallery of unsold cars around the world
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/gall ... =341883529

 

[optimus prime]

The business I work at have just cut staff by 60%...hard times.

 

[ali777]

Over here in Europe the VAT for new cars is higher than the States. So, if things don't turn around quickly, I expect some tax cuts and discounts.

I actually want to buy a car this year.... If my tax cut predictions come true, it will be perfect. If not, I'm getting a second hand car

 

[Cassin]

On the bright side if you can get a loan and want a car this is an amazing time to buy.

I'm in the car market and got a 4.25% APR loan today...

I am getting an incredible deal on a car this weekend. I filled out a form on a dealerships website to give them my contact info and I swear my phone started ringing in 1 minute.

 

[The Gardener]

Oh yeah, this is an OUTSTANDING time to buy stuff. I was walking through the mall a few weeks ago, and the sales are outrageous! The "after-Christmas" sales are continuing well into late January. One of the clothing retailiers, I forget which one, was offering 60% discounts!

 

[Bryan]

The business I work at have just cut staff by 60%...hard times.

Do you work at a series of part-time jobs, and all of them HAVE cut staff by 60%? Or did you mean to say that you work at only one business, and it HAS cut staff by 60%?

Funny, isn't it, that an American has to explain the rules of English grammar to a British guy?

 

[optimus prime]

Do you work at a series of part-time jobs, and all of them HAVE cut staff by 60%? Or did you mean to say that you work at only one business, and it HAS cut staff by 60%?

My grammar was poor in that short sentence. It is however a rushed comment on a forum. Nobody likes a smart ***.

Funny, isn't it, that an American has to explain the rules of English grammar to a British guy?

You’re not really explaining the rule. Just because someone makes a mistake does not mean they don't know the rules. You are correcting an error.

Why is it funny? Do Americans not study English at school? Is English not your first language in America? Are Americans on average dumber than the English? Please, explain the joke so we can laugh together.

 

[Bryan]

My grammar was poor in that short sentence. It is however a rushed comment on a forum.

The assumption that I made, and I think it was a quite reasonable one, is that what you said was another continuation of the peculiar British tendency to treat certain entitities like companies, organizations, armies, sports teams, etc., as PLURAL nouns, rather than singular ones. That's something that an American would never do, even while rushed on a forum. To our eyes, it sticks out like a sore thumb.

Nobody likes a smart ***.

No, but sometimes you have to respect a smart *** for his efforts!

 

[casperz]

I've heard that one of the big 3 is taking bids on destroying the unsold 2008 inventory rather than flood the
market with cheap cars. After some thought I can see how that might be the best thing since selling them
at deep discounts would just drive down demand for 2009 and later models until the glut was cleared out.

When big manufacturers start talking about destroying billions of dollars of finished goods things
are very grim indeed.

 

[ali777]

My grammar was poor in that short sentence. It is however a rushed comment on a forum.

The assumption that I made, and I think it was a quite reasonable one, is that what you said was another continuation of the peculiar British tendency to treat certain entitities like companies, organizations, armies, sports teams, etc., as PLURAL nouns, rather than singular ones. That's something that an American would never do, even while rushed on a forum. To our eyes, it sticks out like a sore thumb.

Here we go again :whistle:

I hear Houston Rockets ARE doing OK this year?

 

[ali777]

I'll add a few more things before this thread spirals out of control :whistle:

I'm getting the impression that talking about energy efficiency is making a come back. With the US elections, credit crunch, wars, etc, the green issues were forgotten for a few months.

Today the British government promised loan guarantees for the British (?) car makers. Big part of the government's speech was about how the money should be invested in developing new technologies, more efficient and greener cars.

Also, Fiat and Chevrolet (I hope I'm spelling this correctly) made a deal recently. According to the deal, Fiat is getting 30% of Chevrolet, and in return Chevrolet gets to use Fiat's experience and technology in producing more energy engines.

Obama has reiterated US' goals of becoming independent of foreign oil, so the government pressure in the US is going to be in that direction as well....

 

[The Gardener]

If the government is intent on spending money, I think that investments in energy efficiency are the BEST choices. Reliance on imported petroleum works just like a tax on everything that we make, consume, or do. Let's say that a company produces 100K in products, and of this cost 10% of it is derived from energy and petroleum products consumed during production. If we import 70% of our petroleum from foreign sources, this is equivalent to a 7% tax on revenue that is payable to the Saudis, et al.

So, energy efficiency would improve one of the worst culprits of what is driving our trade deficit, which on the bigger scale would serve to reduce the need for perpetual borrowing and indebtedness.

Given the finite rate at which oil can be extracted, oil prices will inevitably continue higher and higher as they have over the past few decades. The oil price shock of last summer is taste of things to come, and investments made in these technologies NOW also serve to create a potential export industry in future decades... which in turn helps offset the trade deficit, and reduces the need for borrowing from abroad.

Additionally, periods of economic deflation are great times to build infrastructure, because commodity prices and labor unit prices are low, so infrastructure projects can be completed at a discount price. Again, if the government is really intent o spending money, then this might be a great time to invest in energy efficiency infrastructure.... nuclear power plants, and a modern rail system to transport goods and people would be excellent choices IMHO.

Our national business model has, for decades, been one of consuming more wealth that we create. This makes borrowing an inevitability, well either that or our currency will continually devalue. This can be broken if the trade deficit and current account are uprighted.

Unfortunately, we've probably already reached a break point where these decisions won't be made proactively by the government, and instead the market will be forcing these decisions for us... which can get messy. I sense the US and China will collectively be in, what economists refer to, as a "race to the bottom".