All Things Economic

Hot,

Tell your son about usajobs. gov

There's HUNDREDS of diff career fields. The government has the sweetest teats in the country.

HOTLUVRS

Unfortunately, at some point in time the job availability will dry up, and then the job jumpers won’t know what to do.

At the risk of cementing my position as “the old cranky get off my lawn guy”, I’d say that many, if not most, of today’s young generation have been over protected and spoiled by their parents.

Unfortunately, I have to add myself to that guilty group. The pandemic has exacerbated the situation. Our 22yr old left school early, and didn’t seem particularly motivated. We had a long talk about him needing to move out of our house in Florida, but then 2020 happened, and we didn’t want the kid out on his own. The current explosion of rental rates in Florida is making it hard once again to force him out on his own.

He’s a software gig worker, writes code whenever he needs to eat, but doesn’t save a dime for even small emergencies. A lot of the 20 to 30 yr olds we meet are similar. They work for a few weeks until they have what they want, then they quit, knowing that there will be a job waiting for them somewhere else.

My buddy was a store manager at Sherwin Williams, he quit right at the beginning of the pandemic, started doing Instacart and giving golf lessons to kids for cash and makes more than he did at SW. No real boss and more free time. I can't blame him and luckily for me he plays golf with me during the week in afternoons.

As always, you can see a range of maturity with kids. I've seen some in their 20's and early 30's that are highly successful. I've also seen others that are 30-something year old kids still living with their parents.

In the Uber example, while $125 for 4 hrs work isn't bad, the problem is that many are doing that part time only for pocket money while living at home. They spend what they make and when their car breaks, they haven't put anything off to the side to fix it, and now can't do that because their car is broken,

As a kid, I grew up quickly. My parents separated when I was 15 and the one that left took care of the finances. I was paying the mortgage, utilities, grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning and cooking meals before I was 16. I was working 3 part-time jobs at one point while still in school. I married at 19 and bought my first home at 23, and was well into a career at that age. Not saying things like that don't happen now, but's it was rare then and even rarer now. If you go back a generation before me, it was less rare, and I have to believe that has an effect on the overall economy.

As a parent I've been very fortunate and my kids were fairly self-sufficient at an early age, but they grew up with a decent role model. That definitely can't hurt.

It is strange , there is an article from WION and they have a name for it people have dropped out of the workforce . How do they live ? Probably a lot of gig jobs just guessing like Uber . People used to work towards careers. My nephew works Uber eats and he says he can work four hours and make 125.00. He does it to make extra money .

We have definitely seen times where there were more people looking for jobs than jobs available, like the late 70's and early 80's. Currently there are more jobs than people that want them. Especially in certain area, like the building trades (plumbers, electricians, etc) and hospitality jobs.

@TAll, there are different ways to look at it . When you have a thriving economy you have competition and new people enter the market . They try to have a better cheaper product . When you have stagflation those
new businesses can’t get the capital to grow, Interest rates are high so people who say need a new car because their old one is shot can’t afford payments . Companies that can’t sell their products or services lay people off . In turn the government pumps more money that makes money worth less and it all continues down.

well stag flation may be a good thing now to let corp. america stop price gouging, just stay home and save, not enough workers anyway..

Just think all this in what 1.5 years.. way to go Brandon !

gas, food, inflation, pull out in Afghan. now a war... can anyone name anything he has done right!

TBR

I worked at a restaurant from 9th grade until after high school. If not for my older brother and sister already working there at the time, I never would have been considered. The girl who gave me the application told me that they weren’t hiring, but I can certainly apply if I want. 3 days later I worked my first shift.

Stagflation is where the democrats are taking us ….High unemployment , high interest rates. And high inflation . Everything becomes stagnant , like under Jimmy Carter.

I forgot the exact name of the phenomina I am describing, but, there is a point in the economy where inputs such as labor and raw materials get so high, that the economy begins to contract. We are headed for a global recession within the next year. The Increase in the interest rates are an effort to slow down the economy so we do not reach that point, but it will still happen sooner or later.

I was a fast food manager in the late 1970s/early 1980s and never had the need to put out a help wanted sign.

I always had more applications than spots to fill.

Only recall from about 1987 on as far as biz or economy goes. The crash happened right about the first day I started my first real job.

I wonder if the last three posters, all of a certain "well cellared" age, recall as clearly as I do how rare such signs were in the late seventies and early eighties?

Lol yup.

3 trips since the end of January, and I have come to the conclusion that I need to get into the business of making “Help Wanted “ signs.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas surveyed oil producers about why they are not increasing production.

Sixty percent of respondents replied "Investor pressure to maintain capital discipline."

For Mickey, that means the banks don't want to loan oil companies money...

Interesting article from Techxplore. C om

Scientists are exploring the possibility of extracting dissolved solids from the brine left over after the process of generating electricity from geothermal.

If it can be done cost effectively, the process could provide 10 times the current US demand for lithium worth $5 billion.

@DB

I'm highly skeptical that the Canadian lumber Barons have that much sympathy for the Canadian oil Barons...

There is a long history to this mess that pre-dates NAFTA. The origins of the dispute go back to a 1986 claim (some might say "bullshit claim") that Canadian lumber was unfairly subsidized the Canadian government, particularly the BC and Alberta Provincial governments. This made lumber subject to "countervailing duties" under the later provisions of NAFTA. During the Bush (W) Administration a NAFTA appeals panel found that the subsidy amounted to, at most, 1%. The latest moves in the decades long dispute occurred under the Trump Administration which imposed a 20% duty and then refused to fill vacancies on the NAFTA appeals Board preventing an appeal of the new duties. The Biden administration's contribution was to double the duties in November 2021.

The origins of the Dairy products duties go back to the 1930s

Regardless of what is the actual cause of the spike in lumber prices, one thing I do know for certain, is that my Potlach stock has treated me quite well over the last year.

Goodenuff - I did do some Googling around online and do see where leaks are an issue. In NH, I have a full basement below grade and it is not insulated or waterproofed to the extent that an underground house would be. Once we installed french drains, we no longer get any water in our basement on the worst of days, in spite of settling cracks.

It is definitely a concern though and thanks for raising it. If I ever do get around to building one I will make sure the contractors involved know what they're doing and try to keep a close eye on things.

I would not build one using an atrium design. To me, that just looks like a swimming pool up against your house and is asking for problems. Everything should be graded to drain water away from the structure, not collect it right up against the house.

In the heat of the summer, I do enjoy spending time in the basement (workshop) as it's always more comfortable down there. If not for opening/closing of the garage doors at basement level, it tends to stay pretty warm down there in the winter as well considering the only heat is what comes off my FHW pipes to my 1st and 2nd floor baseboards. I do keep a dehumidifier running down there constantly from spring to fall.

I sell (sold) those too- installed.

99% of the time in the repair/restoration when something failed or there's a leak.

I get paid to stick things in cracks; but I'm very selective about which cracks to fill and how/what to fill them with. I can be anal about it.

:-)

@good, sounds like we have a similar background. I used to sell concrete, masonry and air barrier materials for 30+ years