mike tkach

iTrader: (3)

JOB GROTH,are u kidding me,we import so much from china,its ridiclious,yet our elected politians let this happen,can anyone tell me why americans buy all this chinese junk?when no one has a job in america,no one has any money to spend in america.as americans,we need to wake up,and i mean fast.

KEVLARKAT32

I truly think that the unions have ruined this country over that last 50 yrs ! I personally know two people in manufacturing that as of a few months ago moved all MFG to china and they said Unions and govt reg made it an easy decision . If you disagree with this you have never been self employed and no clue what is like to run a Business , this country is done ........................

pullmytrigger

Im in residential HVAC so I go to every working mans house, I have a good feel for whats going on around here.....

I dont see any turn around, what I see is people only replacing equipment when they absolutely have to......usaully its "can you fix it up so we can get another year out of it?....please!" not "this stuff (furn & A/C) still works but its getting old, give me a price on a brand new system...."

I make good money fixing these things up but the gravy from my subs doing installs is practiclly gone.....good thing Im a service based company and not sales based...

Once in awhile I'll run into a free spending customer like in the old days...then I find out they they are a public sector employee

That has turned into a BIG thing up here.....private vs public sector.....Ontario has lost something like 170,000 manufacturing jobs over the last 5 yrs or something like that....lots of people out of work, plants closing all over the place and these public sector f*cking A Holes (who btw have never lost an hours pay in that time period) are asking/demanding raises.....GO F*UCK YOURSELF!!!

Jupiter Sunsation

+1.........

Move factory out of America, no retirement/no health insurance/lower wages/lower costs yet you get to charge the same amount for your product!

"only in America!"

Matt Trulio

The numbers out of Detroit are good. The automakers have done a good job of bringing out new models at aggressive prices. However, the retail numbers for November were pretty shabby, and while unemployment claims are down to the mid 300,000 range the growth rate for new jobs is lackluster, as is the overall growth rate of the economy.

But the biggest impediments to recovery in high-performance powerboat sales remain the tough credit situation for consumers and dealers. Until that turns around, and by all accounts from the banking people I know that will take time, the go-fast boat industry will struggle.

Jupiter Sunsation

Local paper just caught on to the Palm Beach County Firefighters......the AVERAGE FF was making 90K a year (after overtime, build up hours just before retirement so they get a bigger pension trick). The FF union said "yeah but dangerous job, fire, death, life saving etc" but the paper was quick to point out that the "Chief Mechanic" made 220K a year working at the maintenance facility (no fires, no death, no work with the public at all). 220K a year for a mechanic?

Jupiter Sunsation

Matt,

My brother in law is in the yacht business......same issues no lenders want to loan to even CEO types with 25% down payments!

I suspect the boat business is upside down from dinghys to yachts. It is a supplier issue as well, less paint work, less re-rigs, less upgrades so less parts in general are in demand.

bob

That has been going on across the country for years. Ask any retired cop friend (state, city doesn't matter) or a retired fireman. The last 3-4 years they get first option for the most part on available overtime. Maybe with some of these budget issues some cities are having it may have changed in the last few years.

brivander

Hey Matt -- just curious if you are from Detroit? I actually work in the auto industry, by my measure I've had as successful career as you can have in recent times. Over my career there have been many years of no raises, no bonuses, no overtime (and salaried employees are not required to receive it, but many had become accustomed to it, people who were there in the 90's, before my time).

Lets take an engineer with a Master degree (or two ) making 80-120k a year, and have them go every other year without raises, insurance goes up, inflation rises, houses are worth dog crap etc. etc. etc. -- this is pretty typical for all professional people over the last ten years, right? I mean after all, we are all struggling with the same thing. We are essentially the new middle class, we are certainly not poor, but we will never see the rewards of the generation prior to us. Between my wife and I, both educated people, we can't dream of the life we would have had in the heyday, we do no better than say my father did on one income vs. dual income. This is not a ***** because we certainly have it better than most in these times and feel very blessed, after all, we chose this path a long time ago.

If every other year (or more) for ten years you missed a 3-5% you are looking at major money over a period of ten years. In those ten years I've seen 35% of my co-workers lose their jobs, with MANY of them finding employment for 30-40k less than they left at, no benefits, etc.

Do we (the wife and I) make more money than we did 10 years ago?, yes -- are we any further ahead, not even close, I'm actually behind even after her promotions my promotions etc. This is the problem TONS of people are having where I am from...in "Detroit" If I had another $20-40k a year of missed raises and such between our careers I wouldn't own my boating jalopy but it's what I could afford paying CASH, between saving for retirement, saving for my kids college, paying for a house, taking my family on at least one family vacation and transportation there isn't a whole lot left. Don't get me started on the cost of gas, the credit crunch and more.

This isn't just an auto industry problem and there are TONS of success stories, but as a whole we've been on a downhill slide for my entire career. We are starting, JUST starting to see a light ahead of us, and that keeps people holding on to the money they do have, and I don't see that changing for a LONG time, because it's become our norm, our lifestyle -- preparing for the worst.

Matt Trulio

For sure, even uber-qualified buyers struggle now to get financing. On the other hand, as you have pointed out yourself my friend, if you have cash the deals you can get in the used and new boat markets are really good.