The Economy

[jake]

So.....how do you really feel about Mr. Obama?

Well, I haven't thought much about the matter, but...........hmmmm...........don't know.

What say you?

[lightning59]

1. What is the combined yrs of experience of Big three management?

[lightning59]

2. I've got a great "experienced doctor" story for ya. 3. No tige' dealer here, do it myself with help from tige owners!

[talltigeguy]

2. I've got a great "experienced doctor" story for ya. 3. No tige' dealer here, do it myself with help from tige owners!

Ben Franklin said 'never trust a young doctor or an old barber'. Times have changed. I myself am leary of some old docs.

[yllw20]

Wow - great rant Jake.

[jake]

Wow - great rant Jake.

YOUR WELCOME.

[sparky216]

Well, I haven't thought much about the matter, but...........hmmmm...........don't know.

What say you?

nothing yet......he isn't president, so it's hard to judge his abilities or lackthereof!

[Serria1]

I found this on a diff site about Tige'. I hope that is all the cuts
link here...http://reporternews.com/news/2008/no...pite-cutbacks/

Top officials with Abilene-based Tigé Boats say that despite recent layoffs, the boat manufacturer is "financially strong" and "well positioned to ride out" the current economic downturn.

Earlier this month, the company released 25 workers, reducing its workforce to 75. The layoffs were the third such action in the past year.

[empty_boat]

A Little (or lot) of PERSPECTIVE

I won't enter the Obama discussion, but ....
1981 I was a mechanic at a competing boat dealership. Flooring interest (the interest the boat dealer pays to a commerical bank to have boats on display) was between 21-22% (Today I pay 6-7%).

My parents bought a home in 1980, I can remeber my mom saying "If we could only get 12 % interest" they paid nearly 14% for their new $100,000 house. (My home loan is under 5%, in the same town, house cost $95k)

My friends dad(Owen who worked with me at the boat dealership), bought a new 16' Glastron with a 115 Evinrude for about $14,000. He financed the boat for 48 months at 16%, his payment was around $500 if memory serves correctly. (I sell Glastron today and they have a 16' boat with a 115 Evinrude for $16,000. at 7% for 120 months= $169 a month (estimate after a few Coronas))
(We sold 25 boats that year, I sold over 100 last year(hope to do that this year))

Monte who was a mechanic with me in 1981 bought a Ski Nautique I don't recall the amount but it was "astronomical" compared to a new Glastron. (Very similiar loan terms)

In 1992 I opened my delaership, an economic recession was going on, we sold 45 boats the first year, more the next.

For the 1993 Boat Show, I remeber thinking how great it would be if we could get 11.99 interest for the show (we wer over 12%). We sold 15 boats.

In 1995 I remeber thinking, it would be great if we could only get 9.99%, we were at 10.99% (we sold 20 boats).

I am sure I don't need to go on.

I believe that in any economy, someone is looking to buy. Yes the boat business is off, but someone is out there, making a profit from this economy. I need to find him. I will.

Keep working hard and be a great employee, there is always work for great people, it may not pay the same, but there is always work for those that rise above mediocrity.

I hope I don't come across as " pie in the sky" but as of today, I only KNOW one person who is out of work because of this economy. He was a mortgage broker for the "credit challenged". He should never have been able to make a living selling mortgages to people who shouldn't have qualified (IMO) to buy a house.

As far as the economy goes...
I believe there is still opportunity out there.
I believe hard work will still pay off.
I believe this is a great time to re-evaluate all expenses.
I believe that employees should be thankful for their jobs and not be pissed off at "the man". (He has at least as much at stake as they do)
I believe "Bailing Out" a bad business model, only prolongs the inevitable.
I believe some union philosophy has out lived its relevance, and now is the time to work together.
I do not belive that a governement that cannot balance a budget (and hasn't for years), should take the car manufacturers to task for poor management.
(pot calling the kettle black kind of thing)
I do not know how you can pay farmers to grow grass that they do not harvest, how business can move overseas, how costs can continue to rise (like oil ,even though it is low right now) and you can expect the economy to keep on going like nothing has happened.

I believe the whole thing started to crumble 3 years ago when gas started to rise unchecked. The marginal person could not tolerate an increase in fuel every month. Basic economics says that if you raise someones expenses, but not their income, they have to quit spending on something else. I believe the oil price speculation lead to this. That coupled with jobs leaving the continent and you have a decrease in what people can spend on discretionary items, that then leads to the discretionary business not being able to spend and so on. It "snow balls" and all of a sudden you have problem.
However, the real problem is that we all know that there might be a problem, long before there is one, because we are all college educated and we have the government reports that tell us there is a problem and CNN telling us there is a problem, even though there is NO problem immediately facing us. We still have our hoses, our jobs, our savings,(our diminishing retirements), the school is still open, the grocery store still has food, our electricity is still on and water still comes out of the faucet. But, because of the reports and the news, we hold back, we stop buying and the problem multiplies. You don't buy from me, I don't buy from you. If that keeps up we will both be out of work.

But remember, there is still hope. Some people got rich in the great depression. We live in a prolific ,resilient country. We have resources (mainly our people) that the rest of the world only dreams about. Out of great adversity comes great resolve and great innovation.

Be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

BUY A NEW TIGE!

[Fast1911]

3. No tige' dealer here, do it myself with help from tige owners!

^^ This is by far the most intelligent statement in this thread

[jake]

Then "WHY" would this country elect the MOST inexperienced canidate to be our president.

[mneal]

IMO, you are way over simplifying things. Do you really believe your primary criteria for basing the quality of a person is years of experience, CEO or the kid at McDonalds. Have you never encountered a poor performing "experienced" person? Or most pointedly a very good young one? Life is far more complicated then that.

QUOTE=jake;261348]Then "WHY" would this country elect the MOST inexperienced canidate to be our president.[/QUOTE]

[dogbert]

Then "WHY" would this country elect the MOST inexperienced canidate to be our president.

Because he promised to be different most of the other candidates were more of the same. In fact, he ended up running against another guy who was also promising to be different. At the end of the day, it's not just the president, but also congress that needs to change. What's happened in the past is that both parties end up bickering too much and not solving anything. Let's hope they can all get over themselves and do the right thing (for the American people) for a change.

[raythompson]

Then "WHY" would this country elect the MOST inexperienced canidate to be our president.

Because the president is little more than a figurehead driven by advisors and most unfortunately the idiots in the legislature. The people in congress are only interested in themselves and what will get them reelected.

If you think that congress wanting to bailout companies is for the benefit of the companies or the country think again. Congress critters are heavily invested in the stock market and are simply wanting to reinforce their retirement funds.

I personally think that every person person the legislative and executive branch when elected should be forced, at no penalty, to transfer all stocks, bonds, etc. to government backed treasury bills. Then these people would work for the government as their money is effectively in the company for which they work. This would also help eliminate the special interests that many times sways the decisions by the legislature.

But as for the president needing experience. Nope. He (or she) just needs to be a good speaker, able to think quickly, and listen to others. Something that has been lacking for almost eight years.

[da.bell]

Something that has been lacking for almost eight years.

And the previous 8 years before that.