the big picture

[Meister]

this is an amazingly close poll. off year elections are always a referendum on the congress and whitehouse. maybe two years isn't much time to turn things around.

With the Independents leaving the Obama camp in droves, it's more of a referendum of Obama's policies, he just didn't deliver the "hope and change" that he promised.

 

[Mr. Peepers]

Absolutely better. I fnally got a raise and a bonus this year again. 2007 and 2008 were VERY scary years. Business is definitely picking up (I work in import/export of industrial textiles used in the domestic car market).

 

[Cherry bomb]

I would have to honestly say, no. I am not better off than I was two years ago. Lost many clients, do to the down turn in the building trade. Still am holding steady with an adaptable business plan, but the bankable money no longer exists.

 

[washamericom]

Absolutely better. I fnally got a raise and a bonus this year again. 2007 and 2008 were VERY scary years. Business is definitely picking up (I work in import/export of industrial textiles used in the domestic car market).

dude, send me an application

 

[antagon]

I would have to honestly say, no. I am not better off than I was two years ago. Lost many clients, do to the down turn in the building trade. Still am holding steady with an adaptable business plan, but the bankable money no longer exists.

i'm in building as well. our business plan has changed -- i mean changed -- 3 times since 2004 it went from improving my own property to riding the wave the boom laid out in the developer's market to suckling off government contracts when all that went bust. not all of that, i guess. i still have some improvements underway from back where it all started. if i didn't luck out on these bigger contract,s i would be breaking my balls for work and still laying guys off.

 

[antagon]

I would expect to see some promising signs.....and we really haven't seen that. Anyone look at the housing market numbers over the last 2 days?

maybe things aren't as bad as we are so informed

Could you show us a link where the new unemployment are wrong, and the housing numbers were wrong? Please by all means, show us where it's not that bad....or is it that your a partisan hack?

i think the stats are scary, and i dont see how anyone isnt more than a couple degrees of separation from someone who is living out the statistical nightmare first hand.

recessions are weird though. in the dot com bust, i made a real killing. i dont have the kind of cash needed to do the same in this mess, and this is far more pervasive. after a while, the majority of us who aren't hit directly by a bad economy don't buy the stat-driven hysteria, and go about doing our thing as before... i think this is what recovery is all about. most of the directly hit folks are waiting for businesses to get back to their old pace, and most of those businesses are waiting (or begging) consumers to do the same.

 

[SFC Ollie]

Living on a fixed income the past 4 years we learned how to tighten our belts quickly. Since we paid off the car 2 years ago it seems like we have more but don't believe that there has been no inflation. When you no longer go to work everyday you find that the car sits in the drive more often than not. Gas prices simply do not affect us much. But the grocery prices certainly do.

 

[Missourian]

Tough question...I'm definitely making less than I was two years ago...but on the other hand, we bought a house that we could not have afforded two years ago.

But, I since both of those things are the product of the lousy economy, I have to vote no, I am not better off.


Edit - FYI...For-hire truck tonnage was up slightly in July, but it has tanked in August.

 

[washamericom]

Tough question...I'm definitely making less than I was two years ago...but on the other hand, we bought a house that we could not have afforded two years ago.

But, I since both of those things are the product of the lousy economy, I have to vote no, I am not better off.


Edit - FYI...For-hire truck tonnage was up slightly in July, but it has tanked in August.

i thought that this would be more of a thumbs up or down poll, but added "not much change" i wonder if the nationwide definition of "doing better" is local, like real estate. i suppose it matters where you are. i just wonder how much of watching barrak play golf and buying shrimp the people that are really struggling can take.

 

[washamericom]

you guys just gonna let that hang out there like a big matzo ball... ?

 

[Cherry bomb]

I would have to honestly say, no. I am not better off than I was two years ago. Lost many clients, do to the down turn in the building trade. Still am holding steady with an adaptable business plan, but the bankable money no longer exists.

i'm in building as well. our business plan has changed -- i mean changed -- 3 times since 2004 it went from improving my own property to riding the wave the boom laid out in the developer's market to suckling off government contracts when all that went bust. not all of that, i guess. i still have some improvements underway from back where it all started. if i didn't luck out on these bigger contract,s i would be breaking my balls for work and still laying guys off.

It's hold on and adapt or sink. The more affluent areas here are still building, but the majority is remodel work. The bids are so low its hard to sustain the amount of help, but I'll take the loss to keep good help at this point. Luckily, I moved into design years ago and it sustains the business. Now, I travel more to drum up business and further away then I would like, but I've had this business for years now and refuse to let it sink.
Once the glut starts moving remodels should take off. At least that's what I'm hoping for.

 

[HUGGY]

are we much better off now than we were two years ago, as promised by the president and congress ?

Yes, without question. We were set up for a huge unprecedented fall. It could have gone so much worse. Without the unfortunate need for saving huge sectors of the economy and select industry we and the whole world which depends on us staying afloat could be experiencing truly biblical economic and social disaster.

 

[antagon]

I would have to honestly say, no. I am not better off than I was two years ago. Lost many clients, do to the down turn in the building trade. Still am holding steady with an adaptable business plan, but the bankable money no longer exists.

i'm in building as well. our business plan has changed -- i mean changed -- 3 times since 2004 it went from improving my own property to riding the wave the boom laid out in the developer's market to suckling off government contracts when all that went bust. not all of that, i guess. i still have some improvements underway from back where it all started. if i didn't luck out on these bigger contract,s i would be breaking my balls for work and still laying guys off.

It's hold on and adapt or sink. The more affluent areas here are still building, but the majority is remodel work. The bids are so low its hard to sustain the amount of help, but I'll take the loss to keep good help at this point. Luckily, I moved into design years ago and it sustains the business. Now, I travel more to drum up business and further away then I would like, but I've had this business for years now and refuse to let it sink.
Once the glut starts moving remodels should take off. At least that's what I'm hoping for.

yeah, more cashflow and subsistence than profit on the consumer side of things at the moment. i have really lucked out with the gubmint contracting, this is similar to a good flow of developer contracts and remodels, with a lot less salesmanship.

i looked to put a crew back on the houses, and i got a little school project instead. for the month or so i was making calls again, people were unseasonably cheap. this place is flooded with unemployed construction guys. there's a lot of half-done work... and shady customers.