I'm just curious to take an informal poll about how you feel about the state of the economy. Here in Michigan things are pretty bad and getting worse. I see that companies are making huge profits, but I'm guessing that's all due to offshoring (i.e. China, India, Mexico, etc.) and job/benefit cuts.

But I may be wrong due to where I'm situated. Michigan has nearly 8% unemployment and blacks in Michigan are over 10%.

So here goes:

How do you perceive the current economy, is it job friendly or not?

Are you taking in the profits of the stock market or are you barely getting by?

Do you feel like the economy is improving, getting worse, or just remaining stagnant?

Do you feel anything is being done to improve the economy or does anything need to be done?

Nearly 8%! Come on, you guys can do better than that. Germany and France are both ahead of you at 9-10%.



How do you perceive the current economy, is it job friendly or not? Yes, it is job friendly. My employer hires more than 100 a week. Unemployment here is less than 5% (I've heard 3.9% bandied about, but I'm not sure about that number.)

Are you taking in the profits of the stock market or are you barely getting by? Currently have no investments in the market, am in the midst of aggressive debt reduction.

Do you feel like the economy is improving, getting worse, or just remaining stagnant? Improving.

Do you feel anything is being done to improve the economy or does anything need to be done? By "done", I assume you're referring to gov't actions. If not, your question makes no sense. I mean, I'm doing things to improve my economy, but I doubt that's what you have in mind. One thing is being done, taxes are being lowered. Two more things need to be done: government spending needs to be lowered and more importantly, done far more wisely. Second, gov't regulation needs to be revisited. In a few areas, more may be useful. In most areas, it is a drain on the economy and should be dialed back anywhere from a little to a lot. If Michigan follows these prescriptions, your economy up there will improve.

Think about it: Michigan is the home to the American auto industry. When was the last time a new car factory was built there? You can't say they've all gone overseas.

Honda and Toyota and Nissan and BMW all have built car factories in the US. None in Michigan.... what differentiates the economic climate between where they did build, and Michigan?

Wow, where do you live? I've heard varying stories about employment, are you in NC? 100 jobs per week?? What industry? Are they poverty-level wage jobs?



I'm not sure that's the problem in Michigan.



Actually, a lot of Michigan's businesses are going to Mexico, China and India. Of course there are also some new operations in the Midwest as well as some operations moving to the South.

What is the difference between Michigan and say, China? Wages and benefits mostly. Of course taxes and having a gov't that will do whatever you ask is another consideration.

Now ask yourself, what is the difference between Germany/Japan and the US regarding BMW and the Japanese companies. Of course, those companies are building plants in Mexico as well.

The problem with Michigan is that we're too heavily dependant on manufacturing, notably in a specific industry. You can't really stop the jobs with tax cuts or doing the bidding of the companies. We recently had a refrigirator manufacturer leave the state for Mexico ONLY because of labor costs. The state kisses and kissed their butts to stay. They promised wage compromises, elimination of almost all taxes, etc. etc. They left anyway.

Google Electrolux in Greenville Michigan. That plant leaving has killed the town.

I can't imagine that the jobs being grown in other states can rival a good manufacturing job. But I'm just curious what other people have to say and I'll keep an open mind.

My answers are limited to my area since I really have no idea what is happening in this regard elsewhere.

How do you perceive the current economy, is it job friendly or not?

VERY job friendly at this point. My employer has hired 3 new people (approx. 10% increase in the local work force) and could Hire 5 or 6 more, but is waiting (thankfully) to see if the surge in work is a trend or a fluke.

In my job, I do alarm installs on new small business properties. Work has exploded. There is commercial construction everywhere, just last year I was lucky to be working one install a day regularly. These days I am lucky if I can keep it down to two a day. It is not just construction though, many formally vacant existing properties are reopening and our resale business is booming as a result.

Are you taking in the profits of the stock market or are you barely getting by?

Well, my 401k is doing well. But I work piece work, meaning I get paid per job. Right now I am on track to easily make twice as much as I did last year. And with the doubling of our sales force it would appear, based on their current proformance that I might just do that well, even when we hire more installers.

Do you feel like the economy is improving, getting worse, or just remaining stagnant?

Definitely improving. My job is dependent on local business growth and my job is busier then it has ever been since I started back in 2001. With new business comes new jobs, plus new business for those companies that supply business, and thus more new jobs. The surge in jobs has resulted in a surge in new home construction which is of course more new jobs. It really is all roses here these days.

Do you feel anything is being done to improve the economy or does anything need to be done?

Frankly, I am a bit worried about the rapid rate of growth around here. If this continues long term, we will get nailed with cost for improved / expanded / new schools, roads, and other parts of infrastructure. If supply can't keep up with demand we will likely see prices on everything go up.

In housing this has already happened. Last year I helped my Mom look for homes near me. Average price was 85,000.00. This year, same type of homes, same area the average price we saw was 110,000.00! Lucky for her we found a home that an out of state family had to sell "as-is" and could get it for less then last years average. Still that's high when you consider I bought a similar home, on the same block, in the same circumstances where the owner wanted it gone quick and "as-is" and I bought mine in 1998 for $25,000.00!!

Overall, it seems to me that we are booming, about to the point where we might be booming a bit too fast.

How do you perceive the current economy, is it job friendly or not?

The market seems to be very job friendly in Ohio. I have had calls from several head hunters (persistant buggers) asking me to interview. In our company, we plan on expanding our workforce this year by about 30% (technical positions).

Overall in the US, the unemployment rate is down around 5.2%, which is still lower than the average during the booming '90s.

Are you taking in the profits of the stock market or are you barely getting by?
I'm doing ok. The tax cuts have put more money in my pockets, even though I make the same as I did all of last year. I don't own investments, however.

Do you feel like the economy is improving, getting worse, or just remaining stagnant?
I think the economy is rolling right along and improving each day. The fact that the Fed has been raising interest rates shows that the economy is getting stronger, not weaker.

Do you feel anything is being done to improve the economy or does anything need to be done?
It's already been done: tax cuts. Making the tax cuts permanent will give employers the confidence that the rug won't be pulled out from under them. Reforming Social Security will also give a boost to investment in the market, which should lead to a lot of capital flowing into companies.

How do you perceive the current economy, is it job friendly or not?

I see a lot of dead end jobs with little or no possibility for advancement. I also know lots of colledge graduates who are having a hard time finding jobs that aren't service or retail oriented. It's a tough market for a lot of people. The high demand jobs aren't very desireable, and the desireable jobs are highly competetive.


Are you taking in the profits of the stock market or are you barely getting by?


I work full time, and I go to school full time. I have tried the entrepreneur route opening a restauraunt, and a lawn care business, and decided that it isn't for me. I have a Roth IRA of my own, but don't have stock investments, yet. I am currently researching investment options that I can feel good about. It is important that my money be invested in a market that I can morally feel good about. Problem is, most of the corporate entities in which to invest are not industries that I can morally support. Vote with your dollar, right.


Do you feel like the economy is improving, getting worse, or just remaining stagnant?

Tough to say, depends on what segment of the population you are talking about. If you are middle class, or poor, times is tough. It's hard to find a job in which you can make decent money. The most disturbing trend to me is the distribution of wealth as it gets more and more concentrated in the hands of the wealthy elite. Supply-side Reaganomics leads to an eliteist wealth model. This is disturbing to me.

http://www.inequality.org/facts.html

This is the most alarming thing about the economy in my opinion.

Do you feel anything is being done to improve the economy or does anything need to be done?

I think the market has been made more and more friendly to the elite. It's a great market in which to be a wealthy individual. If you are, however, not part of that establishment, the economy is tough. As the wealth becomes more and more concentrated, the middle class is moving closer to the poor on the spectrum. This has been the cuase of many of history's popular uprisings. As it becomes more and more obvious that the rich control everything, and everyone else is in debt, things will get interesting.

How do you perceive the current economy, is it job friendly or not?

I really only have a good perspective on my industry, which is the home mortgage industry. Rising interest rates, while good for curbing inflation, tend to slow down the rate at which consumers buy homes, cars, and other real property. But we are still doing rather good. We're only a small operation, but we are hiring 5-10 people a month, and profits are constently good.

Are you taking in the profits of the stock market or are you barely getting by?

My 401(k) has done fairly well, although I've been investing moderately conservative, since I don't have a lot of experience in investing. I've spent the last several years paying off high-interest debts.

Do you feel like the economy is improving, getting worse, or just remaining stagnant?

Improving. It looks to me like we are pulling out of the most recent recession and still climbing. Don't know how long it will last, but we're doing good right now.

Do you feel anything is being done to improve the economy or does anything need to be done?

On economic issues, I am very conservative. To me the best thing to do is to cut as many government programs as possible, putting that money back in the hands of the people who will use it to further stimulate the economy. One big thing we can do is to replace all of our income, inheritance, capital gains, etc. taxes with a federal sales tax (www.fairtax.org has a proposal that appeals to me, I'm sure you've all seen it, though), or even a value-added tax. Take all the complexity out of tax system, and you eliminate or at least cripple a multi-billion dollar drag on the economy (the IRS).

How do you perceive the current economy, is it job friendly or not?

Recent unemployment claims stats in Colorado have been the lowest in years. Fewer employees are being laid off, although contract terminations don't show up in these stats. Looks to me that a leveling is going on, where enough workforce has been cut and the production maintained. Any more cutting of workforce will likely hit production.

Capital expendatures are creeping up. More hiring usually follows, unless something perturbs the trend -- like a drop in demand, war, natural disaster.

Are you taking in the profits of the stock market or are you barely getting by?

Nothing is in stock at this time. Everything got liquidated over the past four years. If the economy indeed does keep on doing better, then stock investment will again be part of my personal economy. I'm able to save some money toward this end.

Do you feel like the economy is improving, getting worse, or just remaining stagnant?

Flattening out, possibly with a surge coming up. I see very much latent demand that has built for capital expendatures to support network infrastructures. The network capacities were overbuilt in the 1990s, but stuff ages and breaks more regularly. Plus there are the sweet deals being hammered out by big stock market players, and until the dust settles on this, cap spending will remain a trickle.

Do you feel anything is being done to improve the economy or does anything need to be done?

The tax cuts don't show any returns on effort, but the lower interest rates kept the mortgage industry hot for longer than usual. Refinancing looks to be saturated -- all who could do this have done so. Now the interest rates are going up, and the next wave will have to be actual cap expendatures for updated infrastructure and increased head counts.

For the telecom industry, this has to happen. But first, deals need to be hammered out and leadership established. After this, then demand needs to grow. That gets directly tied to online commerce and communications. Tax cuts might help drive the demand -- I just wish the cuts were more toward the middle than the top. However, real demand, should it develop, will make any impact of tax cuts look infintesimal.

Meanwhile, we have the global macroecon situation of a weak dollar that acts like a break on the national economic movement. Things are moving toward better-than-before status, but we aren't out of the woods just yet.

President Bush is making some movement to reduce the Treasury's red ink bleeding by cutting social programs and begging for foreign funds to support Iraq. He has push-back from Congress. Don't know how much support he'll get for Iraq. The SS deal looks DOA. Doubt the tax cuts will be made permanent, and further talk of cutting taxes could be shelved until deficit spending is again eliminated.

Eliminate deficit federal spending. That would help out quite a bit.

From a worker's point of view, there should come a spike in job openings, and with military deployments, the supply probably won't meet the demand. When will this happen? Good question. I'll hazard a guess at 12-18 months, should things keep going the way they are, and should the dollar gain international strength.

How do you perceive the current economy, is it job friendly or not?
Here in Puerto Rico the economy has never been better than it is right now since I moved here in Jan. 92. The roads are full of new cars and new car dealers and businesses are popping up everywhere. New business open here with a party and often have a fireworks display to draw in the public to some free goodies and festivities and hardly a week goes by without a display, loud music and goodies.

Are you taking in the profits of the stock market or are you barely getting by?
I used to play the stock market during the NASDAC bubble and made buckets of money, took a couple trips to the states on the profits and doubled my nest egg. The market is still going strong but it is a professional play right now in comparison to the NASDAC bubble period. Energy stocks will get you where you want to go if you have the stomach for it. Oil exploration is good but if the congress doesn’t punch holes in Alaska and pipe natural gas down to the lower 48 then invest in liquefied natural gas and its transport. With China expanding its industrial revolution metals, steel, iron ore mining, copper is all good investments.

Do you feel like the economy is improving, getting worse, or just remaining stagnant?
The economy is getting much better but the uncertainty of terror attacks, the Iraq War coupled with higher energy prices hold it back. The Fed wouldn’t be so concerned about inflation if it weren’t doing gangbusters.

Do you feel anything is being done to improve the economy or does anything need to be done?
Yes the Repubs are limiting the budget increases on expenditures but are facing a lot of opposition from the “give me generation” wanting more and more from the government. The war costs are necessary but the left will always draw a crowd of “give me’s” when they point out the cost of the war and the cuts in give me stuff. As the economy improves while limiting tax increases the growth will produce the jobs to fund the government deficit if spending is controlled and if the Executive Branch can control the handouts of pork.