Economy blues poll

[rjengen]

I work in the patch, and yes there was a lot of downturn last year...but it could have been a lot worse. Up here, I think the hardest hit was the transplanted workers that moved here in the last 5 years. I know a lot packed up and headed home for a cheaper cost of living. The thing that saved a lot of companies and enabled them to press on though was the constant development of technology, which lowered the cost to produce. I know it saved my arse, and the other guys I work with...we haven't actually had a slow down at all, but that's just one guy

[dsaundry]

Hey, you still have a employees, a business and a house. Most of our American friends are unemployed, their companies went bankrupt and the bank foreclosed on their home.

One of the reasons we don't have all the problems is that we have a good government in Ottawa. Don't blame the government. Be thankful we have good government. 

Unfortunately the bank owns my house and shop for another 10 yrs or so,..... so should things go south, so to speak, I could lose everything. I have seen techs in my business that used to have no problem getting jobs collecting welfare because nobody is hiring, so while I freely admit that some are prospering I think the majority are treading water paycheck to paycheck.

[cwatkins]

Wife going on Mat-leave is going to slow us down.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Tutoring overseas university and college students seems to be fairly recession proof so far.

Spending what I need to (but a lot more carefully & less) on the hobby, especially with the conversion of the cube into sw anemone tank & building (a second time) a new big "tang" tank. It seems like every time I think I'm done spending for a little bit, I find I need more salt or there's some cool coral or another tang for sale.

Fortunately, got sooooo much extra equipment lying around that I haven't had to spend alot on that stuff for the new sw tanks.

But definitely not spending as freely as I used to on my hobby and have shut down my fw tanks to create the space for more sw. I think if I didn't have a lot of equipment already & had to buy everything, then these new sw setups would have been on hold.

I've also noticed a lot more stuff for sale and tanks being shut down or downsized in the last year.

[Albertan22]

Originally Posted by dsaundry

Unfortunately the bank owns my house and shop for another 10 yrs or so,..... so should things go south, so to speak, I could lose everything. I have seen techs in my business that used to have no problem getting jobs collecting welfare because nobody is hiring, so while I freely admit that some are prospering I think the majority are treading water paycheck to paycheck.

I kind of wonder how regional the persisting economic troubles are. In the Edmonton region there appears to be construction everywhere, the housing market is nearly what it used to be again, and at least in my industry, there's lots of hiring going on again. My sister lives in Toronto, and to hear her talk they're in a depresion out there.

I personally don't think that the economy will ever return to exactly what it was, but rather something different will emerge. It didn't all crash down because everything was running fine afterall. For instance, I don't think the oil and gas industry will ever be what it was here in Alberta again. We'll always have the industry, but you won't be able to stand in any given spot in the countryside and see 8 rigs going at once. The reason it all came down was that the industries in general were stuck in ruts, the companies that are prospering right now are the one's that have diversified and adapted, such as rjengen's employer's adoption of new tech.

As a buisiness person, there's oportunity everywhere right now if you're willing to adopt some change, on the other hand there's ample oportunity to fall on your face as well. That said, many people don't have a lot of control over stuff like that. I'm in consulting, and my field is very flexible, trades people and others who have a necessarily specialized line of work have to hope that their employers are making the right moves during this time of change to keep their companies afloat.

[Nanoized]

but really its my kids that are so damn expensive (Equestrian and Figure Skating) that is slowing my reef spending.

[dsaundry]

Yes kids can cost a fortune sometimes, I have 4 and have put 3 of them through various forms of post education, automobiles etc. My wife and I have a business that is doing ok for now, but we have definately seen economic slow down.

[reef-keeper]

I have been down sized to 32 hours a week This year. Three years I budgeted on a 40 hour week and bought a truck. Now we are living on a cheque to cheque basis. Plug gone through my six month emergency savings account. Yes down sizing suck But you have to what you have to do. Hobbies in my house get a budget of spend only enough to keep them alive nothing more nothing less. So far I have not lost but gained.