How's it going in your area of the States? One of my sons drives for ABF freight, a $2.826 billion national company that has existed since 1923. He hasn't driven for over two weeks now. He's been on the dock as freight is moving very slowly. Old timers are saying it's the worse they have ever seen. He was sent home early a couple days ago as there was no freight to move. On top of that the Teamsters are now supporting the GM auto workers and refusing to send or pick up any freight from GM plants involved in the strike. So it's going to get worse. My other son works for a company that makes custom metal baskets for industry. Been in business for about 75 years. They have supplied all over the world and even supplied Elon Musk. No new orders coming in. They laid off their entire production staff a few weeks ago, that's two shifts. He said he and a few others are the only ones left. I have to check in with him and see how it's going. My sister in law works for a flavoring and spice company that supplies food companies. She said orders a way down. How's it going where you are?
I came across an article in the local news the other day that manufacturing is starting to see a slow down in the area due to tariffs. The economy here has been really good for a long time, it stayed strong during the 2008 recession.
Economy of California Statistics GDP growth 3.0% (2017) GDP per capita $76,000 (2018) Population below poverty line 13.3% (absolute) 19.0% (relative) Labor force 19,286,476 (December 2017)
I have no idea how the economy overall is faring around here. Of course, I'm in rural Kentucky and here "economy" means farming, and yeah I still see soy beans and corn and shit in the fields so I guess things are OK. I work for a small company that builds electrical control panels for industrial, commercial and military applications and we are doing very well; we've even been working overtime. Our biggest problem has been getting parts from some of our vendors but I haven't heard the reasons why.
The IT industry in Dallas is white hot, I get pitched a few dozen jobs a week on LinkedIn. The city has 3.4% unemployment, and now has a $15 minimum wage. Objectively it's not bad. Growth in the city is slowing a bit and we're probably at the twilight of a 10 year expansion.I not personally experiencing any hardship.
The banks have moved into Seattle with a vengeance, as have the homeless. Its a sheltered port where it drizzles all the time, but doesn't get supercold or even have thunderstorms really and has very mild summers. You can literally walk a few blocks at the right time of day, and totally avoid a cold wind coming off some iceberg. Anyway, its ideal for both the banks and homeless, who don't get along, because its a limited area of land. Within another ten years, it should start to seriously resemble a miniature San Francisco. Being a navy brat, I pay attention to port cities, and Alaska is patiently waiting for all the business to move even further north. Minimum wage is $15.00/hr and Seattle just signed a deal with one of the cruise ship lines to host another million visitors a year, while the marijuana businesses have lines out the fucking door. The first way to assess any economy, is how much outside money they bring in on a regular basis, and tourism is normally around 7% of that.
Haha, I was doing some Googling on Kentucky's tourist industry and stumbled back onto the Ark Encounter that was built here. I think it is owned by the same outfit that has the Creation Museum, also here in Kentucky. Anyway, the Ark Encounter people received tax breaks to build that thing on the premise that it would bring in money from Christian tourists. What is so funny is that now the owners of The Ark, supposedly a scale replica of Noah's Ark, are suing their insurance company for failing to cover rain damage. If you got a really perverted sense of humor then please visit Kentucky, we need your tourist dollars. Owners of biblical replica of Noah's ark sue over ... rain damage (it wasn't even 40 days and 40 nights)
The economy is doing well here, judging by the amount of people who can shell out hundreds or thousands of dollars for t-shirts.
I'm hoping it's a bunch of 'em. Or one magical shirt that doesn't need to ever be washed? Still probably not worth 1000.
Those shirts don't have designs on them, though. People order four hundred shirts. And the orders never stop...in a town of ten thousand.
If they're not special designs or anything and just t-shirts, the labor and distribution system have to be infinitely cheaper to import textiles. Why make standard shirts in a town in the US with 10,000 people and everyone is ordering thousands of dollars of shirts? My guess is it's money laundering. Or maybe I'm just bored and looking for the mystery where there's none? All I'm saying is if you want a raise, start a conversation with your boss saying "I have you on tape."
I used to teach that. We used Blue Poly 2 and Cut green. The plastic tubes were great for storing mechanical drawings. Played with photo direct emulsions, but I was basically out of it by the time they came out.
Rural Ohio... Was a bad year for crops. Farmers knew nothing would be worth planting, but they planted anyways so the could apply for crop insurance early. So basically subsidised weeds... Hmmmm.... Sounds like socialism.
