And let's not forget the free "road apples" that you will be able to use for your home grown vegetables in the back yard where the pool, hot-tub and manicured lawn used to be......Originally Posted by Ben Rafael
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And let's not forget the free "road apples" that you will be able to use for your home grown vegetables in the back yard where the pool, hot-tub and manicured lawn used to be......
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Forget the horse Ben. They actually consume considerable fuel in a MPG situation, and they have very high carbon emmisions (uh, methane!) to boot. Plus its hard to get in the comuter lane on the high way!I like the rickshaw idea.
If I remember correctly from my economics training, in the long run we can expect price parity in a free international economy. Of course in the long run, we are all dead as well. Think that's why I left that field to begin with.
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did someone say ,,,,,,,,
Methane~Peter, you may have something here, feed the horse beans,hook up some type of sensor to detect methane , and then some Frankenstein type of contraption to go you know where to capture,,,,, I don't even want to get into details, ,,,,ah, on second thought, lets not~ it's to bazaar~
B
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I strongly doubt that those price increases are really coming soon. The woodworking tool industry is in a sharp slow down. Black and Decker's consumer power tools and accessories, sales were down 26% in the first quarter of 2008 compared to the same period in 2007, though a good part of that is an artifact of moving out of power washers, and some other effects. (Black & Decker makes Delta, DeWalt, and Porter Cable, among other brands.) Industrial tools were also down in a double digit range.
Since demand for woodworking tools is highly discretionary, the decrease in quantities demanded will be relatively large compared to a price increase. It is likely, that even for the industry as a whole, that revenue would decline if prices increase, Of course, if all firms in the industry move together, quantity sold will decline much less than would happen to one firm if it raised prices unilaterally. Since the manufacturers won't get together to discuss price increases privately, they may well want to talk about prices publically, in order to gauge whether all will play follow-the-leader.
But, until stronger growth in personal income, that is being sapped by price increases in "necessities" like food and fuel, I think prices will remain relatively stagnant for woodworking tools. I would not want to be a poorly capitalized manufacturer right now. Eventually, when the economy strengthens, price increases would be more possible for the survivors.
As far as shifts overseas, and "re-patriazation", there was a story in this mornings Washington Post pointing out that an IKEA furniture factory has just opened in Danville VA. IKEA!
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Short sightedness. Not looking past the next quarters figures. Not investing for the long term. Looking to make or save a quick buck. Instant gratification. Greed. Shall I continue?
When manufacturing was moved off shore, no one on Wall Street complained, and our 401K's did great. Now, our habit of seeking short term returns is coming home to roost.
Pay a little now or a lot latter. Obviously we choose to pay a lot later. The bill is now coming due.
Contributor
Short sightedness and tunnel vision.
When you get too specialized....to focused.....too tunnel visioned....too greedy.....you don't see the big overall picture and that is true for administrators, employees and investors. And businesses, employees and investors can suffer in the long term.
Ken
So much to learn, so little time.....
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I sorta figured that was one of the hoped-for consequences of the weak dollar policy. I wonder if letting manufacturing decline was intentional policy--make older facilities obsolete and turn 'em into museums(Bethlehem Steel works for example) and build new & modern. Germany & Japan's industries did rather well after being totally rebuilt in the 1940's and 1950's. I wonder if some decided to do something similar in the U.S. without being bombed most of the way back to the stone age first.
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LOL!!! I suspect your next step is to stand on the corner carrying a sign that says, "Repent! The end is near, Sinners!!!" It's funny how these types of threads bring out the, 'I told your so...", "I would've done things differently...", and the doom and gloom replies.
Bruce
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Bruce,
I agree that we'll be fine but there's no denying that ignoring long term decisions only delays and sometimes worsens the long results.
Ken
So much to learn, so little time.....
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Really? I think they're already here.
Random data point: Woodcraft is asking $359 for a Jet Mini lathe, $424 for variable-speed...two years ago it was $259 and $349 respectively. (Yes, it's the "improved" model, but does anyone think adding an indexing jig should bump the price $100?) The Rikon mini is up to $329: it was $249 when it first came out in late 2005.
Yoga class makes me feel like a total stud, mostly because I'm about as flexible as a 2x4.
"Design"? Possibly. "Intelligent"? Sure doesn't look like it from this angle.
We used to be hunter gatherers. Now we're shopper borrowers.
The three most important words in the English language: "Front Towards Enemy".
The world makes a lot more sense when you remember that Butthead was the smart one.
You can never be too rich, too thin, or have too much ammo.
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Bruce, we are certainly not past a point of no return. However, unless we make some serious adjustments to our spending/savings habits and adapt more reasonable long terms expectations, we may be in for a very rude awakening.
America is the largest economy. But our economic inertia alone does not guarantee a perpetual dominance in the international market place.
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Our ~4% inflation doesn't really compare to truly bad years, like the double digits of the 70s. I'm sure people really thought the end was nigh back then.
Not that things are all rosy, but we must try to keep perspective. Sometimes this stuff can be self-fulfilling.
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Nobody is going to sell tools (or anything else, for that matter) for less than the marginal cost of making them. Since the cost of cast iron, steel, copper, and transport are way up, that will be reflected in the cost of tools. Sometimes you lose less money by not selling anything than you do by selling more.
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Yes, well said, Peter. And this is the point I was making. It's been bad before, it got better, it's bad now, it'll get better, it will get bad again, etc... I'm certainly no financial expert but acting like the business practices of today are so different than those of years past probably isn't really all that accurate. I just think the armchair financial adviser attitude, standing there shaking your head and shaking fingers at big business is just laughable. So YOU know better? YOU would've done things differently? Uh huh...Business gets better and then it gets worse again. It always has and always will no matter how cautious we are. Bad decisions are always going to be made. Oversimplifying things by saying we should've been less short sighted and planned more for the future just sounds to me like blah, blah, blah.
Everyone has some sort of opinion on this I suppose and we're free to express it. But I just think it's really funny how some people take something as incredibly complex and difficult to predict as the world economy and say that they would've done it differently and better. Really? Just how successful is YOUR Fortune 500 company?
Bruce
Member
I don't believe the fed. Their inflation index proportions are wrong, and don't accurately reflect the buying power of the dollar.
Housing has tripled in price in most areas in the last 8 years, and gasoline is 3x higher. Energy costs (fuel oil, natural gas, electricity) for home heating has at least tripled in the same time period. Food price are probably up 20% (and will rise higher when gas prices start feeding back into the prices). Those things represent a large portion of most peoples spending, so I think that the average rate of inflation as felt by my wallet is probably in the double digits.
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