The techs have crashed because everyone finally woke up and said that techs had to make money or no more cash flow. A lot of them had pie in the sky business plans or poor marketing strategies. A few over built in anticipation of more growth. So the techs that are making money will be back.
The US actually had more layoffs in the last eight years than at any other time. We just didn't notice, because there were other companies picking up the slack. So unemployment stayed fairly steady and low.
Fuel prices are probably our biggest concern right now. The summer promises to be a warm one and with energy prices going higher it could tighten many pocket books. People will postpone major purchases and big ineffeceint vehicles (SUVs), that so many of our domestic manufacturers make, will not sell well.
For example, Ford's margin on a Focus is about 6%, their margin on an Exploder or bigger is over 20% or more. They'll have to sell a lot more Focuses to make up for lower SUV sales. That will affect all manufacturers and will ripple through the economy.
It will also cost more to get goods moved and that will translate to higher costs on everything. I think the US must aggressively pursue an energy policy, before it gets totally out of hand. So fuel prices are possibly the biggest threat to our economy right now.
[Long post]
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"Don't fear the Reaper"
The US actually had more layoffs in the last eight years than at any other time. We just didn't notice, because there were other companies picking up the slack. So unemployment stayed fairly steady and low.
Fuel prices are probably our biggest concern right now. The summer promises to be a warm one and with energy prices going higher it could tighten many pocket books. People will postpone major purchases and big ineffeceint vehicles (SUVs), that so many of our domestic manufacturers make, will not sell well.
For example, Ford's margin on a Focus is about 6%, their margin on an Exploder or bigger is over 20% or more. They'll have to sell a lot more Focuses to make up for lower SUV sales. That will affect all manufacturers and will ripple through the economy.
It will also cost more to get goods moved and that will translate to higher costs on everything. I think the US must aggressively pursue an energy policy, before it gets totally out of hand. So fuel prices are possibly the biggest threat to our economy right now.
[Long post]
------------------
"Don't fear the Reaper"
