The Economy Part II

[rwh11385]

Free markets work themselves out... you'll see it improve particularly as the price of oil continues to fall and reaches near $100.00.

Since when has the market allowed to be free? Min wage has been pulled up and will increase again, and Obama wants to increase it more.

[nando]

careful Nando... that's a long post and will not be read :)

Economy is better than it was. Housing will rally within the next 6-9 months. Bad news today about unemployment... but it doesn't wipe out the previous good news as far as overall trend.

Free markets work themselves out... you'll see it improve particularly as the price of oil continues to fall and reaches near $100.00.

if anyone needs a job, they're *always* looking for designers/engineers around here. especially if you are trained in instrumentation. the poor competition across the street only has one instrumentation designer for all their projects :(

[Money$hit]

Since when has the market allowed to be free? Min wage has been pulled up and will increase again, and Obama wants to increase it more.

Price floors ftl.

[thereisnoyun]

I'm all for positive outlook in life, but unless the market can outgrow the inflationary pressure from national debt increase, the market will only get worse; if at best, stall.

There are no indicator that the housing market will rebound. Banks are being sued left and right. Major banks are defaulting on all thier loans. Fannie mae and Freddie Mac are in financial crisis... We are talking about secondary housing market who buys the loans are getting fubared.

Even if hte prices drop, the taxes are still up there... alot of places are paying more for taxes than their house with worth. No one can get a loan without putting down sizable down payment on a house. Prices of consumer goods are rising faster than minimum wage.

[rwh11385]

The housing market is less shakey in places where a bubble never were present. The only real thing is people with bad credit - shocking - have a hard time buying the homes in their price ranges. So there's foreclosed homes for a steal, and people with good credit are gonna snatch those babies up.

But people were too open with credit, and then a correction happen, and they'll be smarter about it. It's how the balancing of economics works...

[rwh11385]

Price floors ftl.

More reason Obama is misleading. The evidence is out there that min wage hurts those it seeks to help, but he sells it as a snake oil to help them still.

Politicians claim they want to help all those single-parent moms raising their kids on full-time minimum wage... but single-moms are like 6% of min wage earners... more direct programs could deal with that.

He's really hurting the 16-19 year olds, in HS, who are usually white, looking for work part-time...

56% of those earning min wage live in households earning DOUBLE the poverty line. The average household income for min wage earners is $50,000!

Min wage increases hurt the people they strive to help and especially hurt the youth of America (who have little value unskilled and uneducated and inexperienced). And the arguments about people living on min wage are ridiculous.

59.6% of all workers are paid hourly x 2.9% of hourly paid min wage or lower = 1.7% of workers in America earn minimum wage...

ONLY 1.4% of Hourly full time workers are paid at or below min wage!

18.5% of food preparation and serving related occupations are paid at or below min wage. OH NOES. Other area high in min wage or lower: Sales, duh.

http://www.bls.gov/cps/minwage2003.htm

http://www.bls.gov/cps/minwage2003tbls.htm

Minimum wage pushes wage increases all the way up, so the price level increases and pegging to inflation rate ensures the inflation rate will keep increasing! Minimum wage increases the incentive to move jobs elsewhere, hurts those unskilled workers it is said to help by lying politicians, and chokes businesses that need workers.

[nando]

washington has like the highest min. wage in the nation - I think it's $8.07. I bet that means a lot of jobs get paid under the table - so the government misses out on taxes. not only that, but Mcdonalds starts at like $9.00/hr anyway. I wonder how many small businesses have closed as a result, how many unskilled laborers are forced underground where there are no regulations for saftey or health.

[RobertK]

The market is cyclical. If you watch the stock market like I do then you would know that when the market is this low it means buy buy buy.

No matter what the government does it will alway cycle back to the end consumer rich or poor.

Raising the minimum wage doesn't really affect businesses that much if you think about it like this.

Government raises minimum wage = Raises the cost of goods sold = McDonald's increases their food prices to keep profit margin in line with new labor costs. You might even argue that it only helps to inflate the dollar overall.

I predict the market wil probably rebound by the end of next spring.

[eric (^__^)]

I don't use gas prices solely as my economic barometer. I look at how big business is faring, etc

[submwar]

I don't use gas prices solely as my economic barometer. I look at how big business is faring, etc

Judge economy on the Dollar value compared to some steady nation, someone like the Canadians

[rwh11385]

Raising the minimum wage doesn't really affect businesses that much if you think about it like this.

Government raises minimum wage = Raises the cost of goods sold = McDonald's increases their food prices to keep profit margin in line with new labor costs. You might even argue that it only helps to inflate the dollar overall.

durrrrrrr, what about when they have a business and they want to go to export and compete globally?

it would help create inflation... but then Obama wants to fix it to inflation, so then it'll keep accelerating the price level and we can get JIMMAH CARTAR DAZE! high unemployment because all the businesses cannot compete globally with our taxes and can't afford any workers because of min wage and then high inflation!!!!

but man, he does have some sweet sounding transfer payments (aka bribes) for uneducated, lazy Americans who listen to the liberal media when they are told that corporations are evil!!!

[mrsleeve]

DC buddy, I remember the last thread and as I have been working 80-90 hour weeks across the country from home and have not been able to keep up with anything thats going on. But over all we are still in around the same position, with oil coming down, and the dollar/euro getting gap getting narrower it may get better in the next 8 months or so. But with all the banks failing left and right, who knows.

[RobertK]

durrrrrrr, what about when they have a business and they want to go to export and compete globally?

it would help create inflation... but then Obama wants to fix it to inflation, so then it'll keep accelerating the price level and we can get JIMMAH CARTAR DAZE! high unemployment because all the businesses cannot compete globally with our taxes and can't afford any workers because of min wage and then high inflation!!!!

but man, he does have some sweet sounding transfer payments (aka bribes) for uneducated, lazy Americans who listen to the liberal media when they are told that corporations are evil!!!

Bah... Obama cannot fix inflation and neither can McCain. Like I said, this is all an economic cycle and we'll pull through no matter who is in office. No matter what law is put into place eventually the market will self correct.

Looking back on our economic history I'd say we can weather this market just like any other.

[rwh11385]

Bah... Obama cannot fix inflation and neither can McCain. Like I said, this is all an economic cycle and we'll pull through no matter who is in office. No matter what law is put into place eventually the market will self correct.

Looking back on our economic history I'd say we can weather this market just like any other.

It's not Obama's role to fix inflation. (not that it is currently that problematic outside of commodity prices running because of increased global demand). It's Ben Bernake's job.

But min wage raises the cost of labor and drives up the price level, if the min wage follows price level then the price level is driven up again, and the acceleration of inflation increases until those few who think min wage is a bad idea see the error of their ways.

In the meantime, all those people *thinking* min wage helps unskilled workers really are having their jobs driven away and putting teenagers who aren't worth that much out of a job and screwing small businesses who need a little help.

The market adjusts to the conditions, and if unskilled labor is unreasonably priced high (forced that way), demand will be less than supply. Highly skilled and technical people who are in need in the highly productive nation of the US will be in demand and make it fine, but Obama's policies will negatively impact the people he is saying it will help.

[nando]

Bah... Obama cannot fix inflation and neither can McCain. Like I said, this is all an economic cycle and we'll pull through no matter who is in office. No matter what law is put into place eventually the market will self correct.

Looking back on our economic history I'd say we can weather this market just like any other.

I agree for the most part - but I'd rather have a politician who is going to just leave it alone (as in "free" market) than one who is going to try and "fix" it. not to say either canidate falls into the latter category..